The Wolf and the Moon
by Katie Macpherson
Summary: Luna has always had a special relationship with Death, especially after her mother died. And after the final battle as she lies dying on the floor of the great hall, the spectre, claiming she was robbed of the life she should have had sends her to Westeros where she is reborn as the twin sister of Rhaegar Targaryen. Luna/Ned
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

When Luna opened her eyes, she was unsurprised to find herself in a place of bright, white light. There were no furniture or hangings where she was or any houses around that she would deem familiar. She wasn't in Hogwarts anymore of that she was certain as she would remember if there was a large white room in the castle that had nothing in it.

It was also very cold which caused her to shiver and rub her hands up and down her arms.

But she knew she had been in a place like this once before.

It had been after her mother's death.

She had lain awake at night praying for someone to watch over her mother as she went to the afterlife.

When she had finally fallen asleep, she had dreamed she was in a room much like this one.

A strange dark hooded figure had been there and after getting over her initial surprise, nine year old Luna realized that it was Death himself. She supposed she should have been more afraid but part of her was lucid enough to know that she was dreaming as well as to know she could wake herself up if she wanted.

She had had a long conversation with the spectre about where her mother was and that she was quite happy that she wasn't sick anymore.

The conversation had been oddly comforting to Luna, especially when Death, or Mestophiles as he asked her to call him had told her that when it came time for her to die as well that he would come and take her away.

And here she was so that could only mean one thing

Is the hour of my death upon me? She wondered to herself. I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. The Nargles were strong in the castle and I was the only one that could see them. I guess it's time to go then. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't dead. Unless of course I'm dreaming and the Nargles are messing with my brain.

"I'm afraid your speculation is correct little one."

Luna whirled around and saw a familiar figure shrouded in black standing a few feet away from her. He was holding onto his familiar scythe and his hood was pushed back much to her surprise.

She had never seen it off when she had talked to him before but now that she saw him, she understood why.

He would have been very frightening to a young child.

He was tall, at least seven feet and if that wasn't imposing enough he was also rail thin. She supposed that that sort of made sense though. He was the embodiment of what death looked like. And people who died usually weren't in the best shape when it happened. So it made sense he was as thin as he was. Death wasn't supposed to be hearty and full of vitality. It was supposed to be thin and old and tired.

His skin was deathly white and almost leathery. His hands which were clenched tightly on the hands of his long scythe were more like claws or talons than fingers. His hair was stark white like the rest of his skin and seemed to shine eerily like a halo of snow upon his head.

But his eyes were what made her own widen the most.

They were as black and as shiny as obsidian and onyx pearls with not a drop of white in them.

All of this would have been very frightening to a young child and Luna was somewhat glad that he had kept the hood up when they had spoken earlier.

Nevertheless he was here now and that could only mean one thing.

"Hello Phil," she said somewhat sadly. "Have you come to take me away then?"

The expression of Mestophiles didn't change but Luna thought he looked slightly amused for a half second. It was gone in an instant however and she wondered if she had imagined it.

"Not quite yet child," he said in his rough gravelly voice that sounded as if it were coming right out of the grave. "It's true that you are dead in the world you know but you were robbed of the life you should have had. Riddle seems intent on bringing as many souls as possible to me as he can. Foolish mortal. Does he think that by giving me souls I will allow him to keep his?"

Luna didn't have an answer for that so she kept quiet for a moment.

"So if you're not here to take me away," the small blonde asked curiously. "Then why am I here Phil?"

This time she was sure she hadn't imagined his amusement as his black eyes seemed to grow even shinier.

"It's quite simple little one. Your life was taken from you too soon and I am not allowed to take souls who die before their time. I am simply a slave to its whims myself. The souls that are unfortunate enough to have that fate I meet with here and offer them a choice. Where we are in a neutral plain between life and death."

"What choice am I being offered?" Luna asked curiously.

"Riddle has succeeded in ending your life along with many of your companions," Mestophiles explained. "And because you have died in the world you know I cannot send you back. But I can give you a new life."

Of all the things she expected Phil to say to her that certainly wasn't one of them.

"You want to give me a new life?" Luna asked. "But why?"

Mestophiles didn't smile but it almost looked like he wanted to. "It's not a matter of what I want child. I am merely a slave to time. And time demands that you not die yet for it has not yet run out for you. If you choose to decline than I will carry your soul to the afterlife."

Luna was silent for a long time thinking.

On the one hand, she was very angry that she hadn't gotten to live the life she was supposed to have and would dearly love the chance to do it again. She hadn't even found the Crumple Horned Snorkack for Merlin's sake!

On the other hand the afterlife seemed like a time of rest and that was something that was appealing as well.

"What sort of life would I be given?" she asked curiously.

"That I cannot tell you," Mestophiles said. "I do not normally give lives. But it will be one far different from the one you know."

Luna paused.

All her life she had longed for adventure and to see the world outside the walls of Hogwarts. Before she had died her mother had told her to seek adventure like she would seek water or air. Luna had a serious wanderlust in her and she would never be satisfied until she had done it all and seen it all.

Everyone she knew was gone and she was being offered a chance she would never have again. If she didn't take it she had a feeling deep in her heart that she would regret it.

What was that expression that Professor Dumbledore had told her not long before he died?

You must go on to the next great adventure.

She took a deep breath and looked Phil in the eye. "Alright since there aren't any Nargles around to influence my decision, yes I will take this new life. I'm not ready to die yet."

Finally Phil smiled and it was a downright creepy one. "Excellent."

"But one more thing," Luna said as Phil gripped his scythe tighter. "In this new life will I still be….well…me?"

Phil bared his razor sharp fish like teeth in what might have been a snarl or a smile. "That is for you to learn. I cannot say what comes next."

"Right then," Luna muttered realizing she wasn't going to be getting anything more out of him. She knew she was taking a big gamble but she wasn't ready to die yet. She had barely begun to live. "Let's get on with it."

Phil nodded and came towards her. He seemed to grow even taller as he neared the small blonde and Luna literally had to tip her head all the way back just so she could take him in.

He towered over her and Luna was sure that he was more than seven feet. The cold seemed to become even more acute and Luna was hard pressed to stop her teeth from chattering.

"I won't see you after this will I Phil?" she asked.

The spectre shook his bone white head. "No child. The next time that you will ever see me is when I come to take you away for good. And when that time comes…..you will not have a choice."

The small blonde opened her mouth to ask more questions but never got the chance for Phil reached one hand down and placed a long bony finger to her temple.

The sensation that filled her was one of acid searing in her veins and Luna gasped. She imagined that this was what basilisk poison felt like after the snake had bitten you. She felt hot and cold all at once as well as a sort of paralysis that rendered her unable to move as the horrible sensations continued.

"Phil," she forced out from between clenched teeth. "What….are….you…..doing?"

Finally the spirit took his finger away and Luna swayed before she managed to catch herself before falling.

She looked up at the spectre, confused and panting for breath. "Phil….what did you do?"

"A parting gift," the spirit said calmly. "You may have need of it in the world I am sending you to. Until we meet again….farewell Luna Lovegood."

"But – "

She was cut off when all of a sudden, faster than she could follow, Phil swung his scythe through the air towards her.

The moment the cold metal touched her, a searing pain filled her even worse than when Phil had touched her head.

She let out a scream and her final sensation before utter blackness was the spirit's unrelenting face.

Ω

"Oh your grace, they are so beautiful….you have been blessed by the gods twice. Twins….a son and a daughter. An heir to the throne and a beautiful girl."

When Luna opened her eyes again it was to another bright light. But this light was very different from the one she had experienced with Phil earlier. This light was warm and soft as if it were coming from a candle.

Where am I? She wondered. Where did Phil send me?

When her eyes finally focused, she realized she was staring up into the face of a beautiful woman with pale silvery blonde hair just like her own. She had violet eyes and a clear unlined face that was slightly sweaty as if she had just gone through a rigorous physical activity.

She was the most stunning woman Luna had ever seen and she wondered for a moment if Phil had instead sent her to the afterlife where her mother Pandora was for this woman surely looked like her.

But then she blinked, that couldn't right. The strange voice she had heard had mentioned something about twins….and she certainly wasn't a twin.

What in Merlin's name was that all about?

"King Aerys must be told Queen Rhaella," the other voice said again and Luna knew it hadn't come from the woman with the silver hair that was looking down at her with eyes full of live. "The Targaryen family is expanding. A son and a daughter. This will surely please him."

"Yes by all means tell the king," the woman named Rhaella said. "The gods have indeed blessed me."

Luna heard the sound of a door shutting and suddenly she felt herself being picked up and turned slightly so the woman who she took to be her caretaker was only partially in her view.

She could see another child from this vantage point, slightly red and with their eyes closed with small tufts of pale blonde hair like her own.

"Meet your brother my love," the woman whispered. "Odd isn't it that the gods would bless me with two children on the first try, a son and a daughter. And in the midst of this great tragedy it is a welcome thing. I wonder what I shall call you."

It all began to click then. Phil had sent her to be reborn into a different life, it hadn't all been a dream and now she was in another strange world as a baby with all of her memories intact from her old life with a new mother and a new family.

I hope I still have my magic here, Luna thought anxiously. It would be very difficult to live without it.

She felt an odd tingling in her veins and then remembered Phil pressing his finger to her forehead and the horrible sensations that had followed after.

A parting gift, he had said it was.

She was distracted again when Rhaella pressed a hand to the head of the baby that Luna now knew to be her twin.

"Rhaegar," she said gently as she looked at the other child before she turned her violet eyes on Luna herself. "And you shall be called Laena. The daughter shall have a name after mine own name. Rhaella and Laena. I suppose it's fitting."

She bent down to the two babies who were resting on her lap. "Welcome to Westeros my loves….and to the Targaryen family. And rest assured, I will not allow you to follow that horrible tradition that your father and I were forced into. You are the light of my life, and I will see you safe and happy, and not mistreated as I have been."

What have the Nargles gotten me into? Luna wondered.

Ω


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Now Luna had grown up in a family that many would consider unconventional. Her mother Pandora had been a potions mistress who liked to experiment with rare and dangerous potions and her father Xenophilius had been obsessed with rare animals and had been no happier than when he was writing in the Quibbler or chasing down leads on the elusive Crumple Horned Snorkack. As an only child Luna had received all of her parents love and attention and care and she had thrived under it.

But she came to realize within the first few years of her second life that the Targaryens were nothing like that.

She had a father who was as absent in her life as he was insane and a mother that lived in fear of him and his vicious and brutal abuse on her.

Her new name was Laena and she and her brother Rhaegar were inseparable as children. But Laena, given the fact that she was sixteen when she died the first time was far more mature than her brother. She started reading when she was two and walking earlier as well drawing a lot of attention.

Her speech constantly stunned her mother and the members of court along with her septa and the maesters because she talked like a grownup and had the near intelligence of one as well.

The newly named Laena was constantly aware that her new life was vastly different from the one she had grown up in and not only were there no such things as magical schools, but that she had been transported to a time when kings and knights roamed the lands and there was no much thing as democracy or elections.

A king ruled the land with an iron fist and there were four wardens throughout Westeros who looked after the south, east, west and the north. Then there were the bannermen that served them without question and the many armies throughout Westeros.

Granted there weren't any Nargles or Crumple Horned Snorkacks either so that was a plus but it would still take a lot of getting used to.  
When she was two, Laena slipped away from her septa and rushed to the library where she used her magic to levitate down from the shelves two large book on the greater and the lesser houses of Westeros as well as one on the History of Westeros as well.

Needless to say, what she found was mind boggling.

She was from a line of conquerors and warriors that dated back to the free hold of Old Valyria, the most advanced civilization in the known world for its time and they had tamed dragons, the only known race to do so. Astride their dragons her ancestors had conquered the known world and brought all other civilizations to heel.

Three hundred years ago, following the doom that had taken the lives of most of the ancient Valyrians, her ancestor Aegon and his sister wives Rhaenys and Visenya had come to Westeros astride their three dragons and conquered it with fire and blood.

It was then that they conquered the Andals of the south and the First Men of the north by slaughtering Merne Gardener of the Reach and four thousand souls were horrendously burned alive on the battlefield.

They had brought the kings of Dorne, the north, the Riverlands, the Reach, the westerlands and the east to heel within a matter of months it seemed.

Before the last Targaryens had come to Westeros, the country had been through two bloody civil wars already.

First there were the children of the Forest who had engaged in a bitter war with the First Men for years before the two races had established a pact on the Isle of Faces and sworn to come to an alliance.

After that, the Andals came from across the Narrow Sea and conquered all of the south of Westeros save the north who were able to resist them.

They were the ones who established the faith of the Seven and except for the north, it became the dominant religion throughout the nation.

And finally then came the last dragons of ancient Valyria who were determined to conquer the Andals and the First men into one nation and rule over it as kings.

After the many kings throughout Westeros bent the knee to the Targaryen invaders, including the First Men of the North, and the realm of Westeros was established.

From there Aegon and his sister wives went on to build their capital along with the Red Keep that Laena now lived in with her mother, her father and her brother.

When Laena read the words sister wives she had to do a double take because she was so horrified.

Oh yeah….and it turned incest was a thing too.

Her mother Queen Rhaella and her father King Aerys were actually brother and sister, coming from a long line of Targaryens who believed in blood purity.

The Targaryens believed in keeping their bloodlines clean and so wedding brother to sister was something that was common place in the royal family.

But actually knowing that she and her twin brother were the product of incest was a lot to digest.

At first Laena felt supreme disgust because she knew that her father was a monster even at the age of two. She knew enough to see the unease on her mother's face whenever the king was near her and how her eyes would always dart to one side.

But then she remembered that acts of incest had been common among the pureblood wizards and witches when she had still been Luna Lovegood as well. There had been many members of the Black family who had married their own cousins in order to keep their own bloodlines pure as well.

That was probably why Bellatrix Lestrange had been as crazy as she was. She reminded Laena of a female Aerys.

 _I have died in that world but some connections really do linger across time,_ she thought grimly to herself.

Still, she comforted herself knowing that her heart and memories were the same for Laena Targaryen as they were when she was Luna Lovegood. That had not changed and her appearance was only slightly altered as well.

Instead of having ice blue eyes like she had had before, she had large violet ones, deep purple orbs that were sometimes so striking that it would cause people to stop and stare at her. Her brother's eyes were lighter in color than hers but were more like a pale lavender like the king's.

Her hair had remained virtually unchanged and it was still the same pale shade of almost silvery blonde that she had had when she was Luna. It was in long loose curls and hung to the middle of her back and a lot less messy than it had been before because there were actually people around who brushed her hair for her.

Many people said that she was more beautiful than her mother had been when she was younger even though she was still a child.

And because of her enhanced intelligence, given that she had the mind of a sixteen year old in a two year old's body, she had no trouble picking up on adult conversations and understanding what was being said between grownups.

Laena also put her magic into practice in those early years as well and discovered that the parting gift that Phil had mentioned was actually a gift for manipulating fire as well as wandless magic. Seeing as how she didn't have her wand anymore, that was very helpful.

Laena didn't become aware that she had such an ability over fire until she was three years old and she saw her father abusing her mother.

She had managed to get away from her rather irritating septa as she had already known what the woman was trying to teach her and had come running to the gardens in search of her mother so she might spend the day with her instead.

Rhaegar was becoming a little irritating as well because he was annoyed that his twin sister was ahead of him in everything. But Laena didn't much care what he thought at the time.

If anything, Laena was a free spirit and she hated being tied down or restrained.

That was when she had come upon the horrifying scene in the gardens that made the three year old literally begin to shake with rage. Her father was hitting her mother, and he had just grabbed her by the arm and yanked her close to him so he could snarl in her face as she was trying to get away from him.

They had been out in the gardens and the knights of the Kingsguard were just standing around doing nothing.

In fact anyone would have been able to walk by and see what was happening and these men who were supposed to guard the royal family were as lifeless as mannequins. She could see them glance at each other out of the slits in their helms but as far as movement went, that was it.

In that moment, Laena had never felt such rage come over her that it was like hot poison in her blood.

Having grown up with Xenophilius and Pandora, two loving parents who adored her, it was outside of Laena's realm of comprehension that a man could do this to his wife, sister or no.

Her fists began to shake as the rage took hold and without even thinking she waved her hand in a wide sweeping gesture as if she were backhanding someone across the face and watched in shock as Aerys was thrown across the clearing and into the bushes on the other side of the terrace.

You should have seen the guards move then.

Laena watched with grim satisfaction as the members of the Kingsguard hurried across the clearing to haul the disgruntled king out of the bushes and to his feet to check him for injuries.

"Are you well your grace?" Ser Jonothar Darry asked and the king, looking more than a little ridiculous with flowers and shrubs sticking in his long silvery blonde hair jerked his arms free from the guard.

It was then that he caught sight of his three year old daughter who had moved across the clearing to stand in front of her mother who was just as in shock by what had happened to Aerys as he was.

Laena's hands were still burning but not uncomfortably so and when she glanced down, she felt a sort of disconnect when she saw that her small fists were wreathed in blistering crimson flames. Strangely enough Laena felt no pain, only rage at the man who dared to brutalize her mother.

Aerys stared at her for a moment, his expression of shock turning into one of sick satisfaction.

Laena was breathing hard but when she felt her mother hesitantly put her hands on her little shoulders, she felt herself slowly begin to calm down and the heat from her hands dissipated until with a hiss, the fire went out.

"My daughter is a true dragon," the king whispered, his eyes gleaming as if he were a child on a sugar rush. "Magic has returned to the Targaryen line."

Laena sure as hell didn't care about all that, what she cared about was protecting her mother from this madman who called himself a king. She had positioned her little body protectively in front of Rhaella's and even her mother's hand on her shoulders was not enough to calm her down completely.

Aerys turned to fix the queen with his gleaming crazed violet eyes. "See to it that my daughter is well cared for. I will not have her harmed. She will restore magic to the Targaryen line."

He turned and hurried off with the members of his guard, some of them glancing behind at her warily as they went but all went with him.

The moment the golden armor was out of sight, Rhaella bent down and put her arms on Laena's shoulders so they were at eye height and looked into her three year old daughter's eyes searchingly.

"Laena, my sweet girl. Are you alright?"

"I should be asking you that," Laena replied. "He was the one who was hurting you."

It was strange to hear normal words coming out of her mouth when her voice sounded like a typical three year olds. But after questioning the septa and the maester most extensively, Rhaella had concluded that her daughter was simply a very advanced three year old. She was very intelligent and possessed the linguistic grasp of someone twice her age and sometimes it was a little unnerving to hear her three year old daughter speak to her as if she were an adult trapped in a child's body.

"I'm fine sweet girl," Rhaella replied. She glanced down at her daughter's hands and lifted to up so she could check to see if there were any burns. "How did you do that?"

Laena looked at her mother searchingly, unsure if she would be able to understand but deciding to tell her anyway.

"It is as the king said mother," Laena replied calmly as her mother looked her over for any injuries. "Magic has returned to the Targaryen line."

Ω

Miraculously, word of the incident in the gardens did not spread nor did the knowledge that Laena Targaryen was a magic user ever go past the lips of those members of the Kingsguard as Aerys threatened painful death on his guards if they were to ever repeat what had happened to anyone.

So the only ones who spoke of the incident were Rhaella and Laena and that was only to each other.

Aerys continued to decline as twins grew older and he became more and more obsessed about magic and dragons. He thought that now that magic had returned to the Targaryen line in the form of his daughter Laena that dragons were soon to follow.

Unfortunately that wish did not manifest in the form of winged beasties and the years passed with Aerys spiralling further and further into insanity.

He was very disappointed when Rhaegar didn't have the gift of magic as well, but since her twin was the heir to the throne there was nothing that could be done about it.

It led him to nearly brutalize Rhaella again for not giving him a son who had magic, but fortunately, Laena was just around the corner and cast the cruciatus upon the king who collapsed from the pain allowing her mother to escape and alert the maester that something was wrong with the king.

Laena was never seen at the scene of the incident but Rhaella kept an eye on her daughter all the same.

She didn't know what to make of her daughter's strange abilities, but in a way she was thankful for them all the same. Aery's abuse of her had gone down immensely since then as he seemed more preoccupied with bringing magic back to the Targaryen line.

That meant he had been spending a good deal of time in her bedchambers recently and she also knew that it meant she had been a lot sorer of late.

But it seems the gods were against her for she wasn't able to conceive another child until Rhaegar and Laena were eight years old.

By that time, Rhaegar had realized there was something very wrong with his parents relationship. He also knew that his twin could do things that he couldn't and that she seemed to be the only one capable of protecting their mother.

But that didn't mean that he didn't try.

As they only had each other for playmates, Laena and Rhaegar grew very close. When they were eight and their mother was due to give birth, Laena did her best to explain to her twin what would happen when they grew older and what their father might expect for them to do.

As she might have expected, her older brother was disgusted with the idea that he and his twin would have to marry. He loved her certainly but not like that at all and they made a pact right then and there, that they would not be forced together out of anything other than sibling love for each other.

 _I don't care if I have to imperius the king in order to get out of this,_ Laena thought to herself as she listened to her mother's screams while she was in labour outside of her chambers. _I will not be marrying my twin. I will find someone who loves me and that I can love and I will go far away from my father. This line of incest will end here._

Soon after that, she and Rhaegar were called into the room to greet their baby brother Viserys. He was a tiny, angry red little thing that had the strongest lungs that Laena had ever heard but he was beautiful.

Like her and Rhaegar, he had pale silvery blonde hair and purple eyes. He held onto their mother's finger as tightly as possible and cooed up at her.

When eight year old Laena was given the baby by her mother to hold, she never in the world thought she had seen something so precious. She had never been a big sister before given that Rhaegar was the older sibling and when she had been Luna Lovegood she was an only child.

 _I will always protect you little brother,_ she thought to herself and glanced up at her mother who lay sleeping in the bed from exhaustion. _You and this little family I've been given. I won't let anyone, least of all my mad dog of a father ruin what has been built here._

She gave little Viserys back to a nursemaid and slowly followed her twin out of the room so Ser Barristan could return them to their chambers.

Since the tragedy of Summerhall that happened right before Rhaella had given birth to her and Rhaegar, the ranks of the Targaryen family, all of Aerys' brothers and sisters and their children had been killed.

The King was desperate to strengthen the Targaryen line and if that meant spending more time with his wife as possible in order for her to conceive, well then so be it.

Laena was very glad that her mother had given birth to a son as there was no telling what her father might have done had it been another girl.

 _Hopefully Viserys will be enough of a bargaining chip to keep the king away from mother for a while. She's had the burden of carrying on the Targaryen line alone. It's about time she's given a rest._

Shortly after the incident that happened when she was two years old, Laena had managed to forcibly _obliviate_ Aerys of the incident so that he would never remember that she had had magic. It was bad enough that he was obsessed with replenishing the Targaryen line but if he remembered that she alone of her brothers had magic, there was no telling the abuse he would heap on her mother because the sons she had borne him couldn't do what the daughter did.

She was also aware that if he remembered what had happened he would go to insane lengths to force her to marry her twin so that magic was kept in the Targaryen family.

She had no intention of letting that happen.

Laena saw no point in _obliviating_ the members of the Kingsguard as it wasn't like anyone would believe them if they were to repeat the information outside of the keep. If the king were to utter it, there would be a lot more people who would believe it as fact.

She didn't do the same to her mother either, because she couldn't bring herself to and because she knew that Rhaella would never tell anyone in order to protect her.

But when the time came and she and Rhaegar grew older, Laena had no qualms about placing the king under the Imperius curse if he ever got any ideas about forcing her and Rhaegar to marry in order to give rise to some foolish belief that they would be responsible for carrying on the Targaryen line.

As far as she was concerned, both she and her brother deserved beyond a shadow of a doubt to be happy and they would not be forced into an incestuous marriage just because it was what her parents and ancestors had done.

She remembered how her mother Rhaella had looked down at her as a babe and promised her fiercely through clenched teeth that she and her brother would not be forced into the same union that she and Aerys had been.

The incestuous pattern would stop with them, Laena would swear it on any sept that she saw.

And that was something else she was going to have to become accustomed to about the new world that she was living in.

Luna Lovegood had never been a particularly religious person but it appeared that the Faith of the Seven was deeply ingrained into Westerosi history, politics, society and culture.

The only one that Laena prayed to was the Stranger as he looked a lot like Phil and she had seen him face to face. He was the only one that she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt was real.

Phil had told her that she wouldn't see him again until it was her time to go and she believed that, but there were times when she wondered what the spirit would say if he were here.

He had been a big help to her after Pandora died and she would always be grateful to him for that.

Laena knew she would rather hear hard blunt words rather than pretty false ones and there was no one who was more into the business of honesty than death itself.

If he was honest with her the least she could do was be honest with herself.

And the honest truth was, that she was different. Having spent now eight years in Westeros, about half the time she had been Luna Lovegood, had altered her personality to a certain degree. She still loved animals and the plants and trees and took great pleasure in caring for them and the people around her, but she didn't talk about the Nargles quite

as much as they weren't any in Westeros and she had been raised a different way.

 _It's odd that I get to live life twice,_ Laena thought to herself as she sat in the library one afternoon a few months after her eighth name day. _I wonder if its possible that Phil gave second chances to all of my other friends as well. Especially Harry._

Harry had confided in her a few things before the final battle because he had known she would understand what he needed to say.

As soon as he realized that uniting the Hallows had been something that Riddle was trying to do and had achieved a third of the way to his goal with the stealing of the Elder Wand, he told her that there was no possible way he could let Riddle get his hands on the cloak of invisibility and the resurrection stone.

And that was when he had given the stone to her. He had hung it on a simple leather cord and presented it to her, saying she was one of the few people he trusted in order to look after it.

As she thought these memories through, Laena's hands found their way to her throat where the necklace still hung. It was the one thing she had been allowed to bring with her into this life and it was the one thing that never left her throat.

The stone was as black as obsidian but shiny as if it were a drop of water that had been dropped into a dark pool in a forest where the sun never shone.

It was about the size of a golf ball and it was perfectly circular, thicker in the middle than at the edges. In its face was engraved the image of the hallows, the triangle symbolizing the invisibility cloak of Harry, the circle meant to symbolize the Resurrection Stone inside of it and then the long thin line inside the circle meant to symbolize the Elder Wand.

In a way it was rather ironic that Riddle had had the wand, Harry had had the cloak and she now had the stone that he had given her.

 _And I seem to be the only one who's been given a second chance at life out of all of them. I can't help but wonder if it's because of this stone._

Laena slowly unclasped the gem from her neck and turned it over in her hands. She was more than aware of the story of what would happen if it was turned thrice in hand and she had no desire to see if it was actually true.

 _This is the only piece of my old life,_ she thought to herself. _It's ironic that Phil let me keep it. Maybe this is the reason he gave me a pass on dying._

She hung the stone back onto her neck and sighed as she pushed the book she had been reading away.

While not being an academic monster like Hermione Granger had been when she was in school, Luna had been put into Ravenclaw for a reason. Her quick brain and sharp instincts had gotten her into the top three students in her class every year up until the war had begun.

It was what had helped her to survive here in Westeros, despite the fact that she was a princess.

Ser Barristan was quickly becoming her favorite member of the Kingsguard because of his kind and compassionate nature and his selflessness. He reminded her a lot of the man her father had been before her mother had died. But it was still her wits that had allowed her to trust the man and she had a feeling that his protection would only take her so far.

That wasn't to say that Xenophilius Lovegood had become a bad man after Pandora's passing but the quirkiness that he had always had, had come to the fore and he spent more time working on the Quibbler than with her when she had come home from school.

Because of that, it did take Laena some getting used to because she was spending so much time with her twin and younger baby brother Viserys. She had been an only child before and now the fact that she was sandwiched between two brothers was taking an adjustment period.

It didn't help that she had just been informed by her mother several months after giving birth to Viserys that she was pregnant again.  
Laena hadn't been sure what to think and as her mother wasn't showing there was no way of telling whether it would be one baby or two or whether it would be a boy or a girl.

The news of the queen's pregnancy had put the king in a better mood as the Targaryen family was about to welcome its fourth child and so he had left her mother alone for the time being.

Laena was only eight years old and getting ready to welcome her fourth sibling which gave her some mixed feelings.

Viserys was still a baby and still required a lot of care and attention. In fact one of Laena's favorite things to do was hold her baby brother when her mother was too tired or the nursemaids were busy.

Despite her disgust for how all of her siblings, herself included had been brought into the world, she loved them all fiercely. It hadn't been their fault that they had the father that they did and so far her twin Rhaegar didn't seem to have inherited their father's madness.

She remembered that infamous saying she had heard whispered by grand maester Pycelle one day, that said that when a Targaryen was born the gods would flip a coin on whether it would be insane or not.

Thankfully she and Rhaegar hadn't inherited any of this madness and it was too early to tell with Viserys but Laena knew she was going to do everything in her power to ensure that her baby brother never knew a touch of insanity.

It helped that Aerys never spent time with any of them which allowed Rhaella and Laena to instill a great deal of nurturing in the youngest Targaryen.

It encouraged Laena to see her twin stepping up and being a role model to their baby brother even though he was only eight years old. Rhaegar was fiercely protective of his family and all those whom he loved.

He had known that while there wasn't much that he would be able to do about his mother's wifely duties or the fact that his sister was far more mature and different that he was, but he had done his best to cope with these differences.

One of those techniques was keeping his mother as far away from his father as possible especially now that she was pregnant again and seeing to her comfort.

Rhaella called him her little protector and it always brought a smile to her twin's face whenever he heard those words.

Rhaella and Rhaegar were those people in the keep that Laena was closest to and it gave her a great deal of pride to see her twin acting like the man her father should have been even though he was only eight years old.

Yes indeed, life in Westeros was nothing like life in England.

Despite the bizarre and somewhat sickening family legacy she had been born into, Laena knew that her life as a princess would perhaps be a lot better and a lot worse than life as Luna Lovegood.

No one would ever try and harm her again like they had when she was a witch and there were times when she would run her hand over the smooth skin of her arms and marvel at the absence of scars and abuse that she had endured at the hands of the Malfoys when she had been kidnapped.

Things were very different here, there was a different language, a different religion, a different education system as well as a different political hierarchy in which there was no democracy at all.

The rich were rich and the poor were poor and life went on just like it always had.  
Laena remembered how disgusted she had felt on her first excursion out into the city accompanied by more than a dozen armed guards and see the levels of poverty that some of the people in the city lived in.

Her brother hadn't been allowed outside of the keep and her mother had been pregnant with Viserys at the time so she hadn't been able to come along either.

Laena had been eight and by this point had removed all remnants of her magic from her father's mind. He had allowed her to go out into the streets as long as she had her septa with her and a great number of guards and it was then that Laena saw just what kind of kingdom her father ruled over. She was appalled at some of the living conditions of the poorer people and the many flesh markets that were scattered throughout the capital.

 _Does no one in this gods forsaken place know anything about compassion and decency towards their fellow human beings?_ Laena thought in disgust. _And this is the place where I will be living for most of my life before I inevitable marry and move away to a place that's similar? No, I won't stand for that. Someone has to do something and I will not marry a man who will simply sit back and let the people around him suffer. He must be a kind and decent person and have a genuine sense of right and wrong. I don't care if there aren't any Nargles here to influence people's decisions. That just makes what's going on all the worse. This city is poor and struggling at least a portion of it is, while the people inside the keep live in wealth and will do so for the rest of their lives. Someone has to do something._

That was when she had seen a small child sitting begging on the street corner and Laena had paused by a fruit vendor who seemed humbled that the little princess was stopping to pay him attention.

She gave the merchant a bright smile and passed over a coin for one of the fruits on his stand which he gave to her with shaking hands.

She smiled at him one more time and slipped out from between her guards, ignoring Ser Barristan's calls and hurried up to the child who looked no older than she was and handing him the apple with a bright smile.

He had seemed so shocked that he had lost the use of his tongue.

"What's your name?" Laena had asked him.

He blinked and had to swallow a few times before he was able to answer her. "H-Haedric your grace."

Laena gave him a bright smile and offered him her hand. "Come with me Haedric."

He hesitantly took her hand and followed her slowly as she led him back over to her guards who were looking at the child suspiciously as he was obviously a street urchin.

"Ser Barristan?" Laena asked cheerfully keeping a grip on Haedric's hand.

"Yes your grace?" the knight asked warily.

"Do you happen to know if there are any blacksmiths around this area?"

The knight seemed flummoxed for a moment before he told her that there were indeed a number of blacksmiths in the area.

Laena nodded and marched straight to the nearest one before all but telling the blacksmith in that shop that he would be taking Haedric on as his apprentice and he would be receiving a stipend from the Red Keep for his education.

He had seemed a bit shell shocked that the eight year old Targaryen princess was both asking him to take on a street urchin as an apprentice as well as the fact that he would be paid to do it and could only nod and bow as he showed her and the rest of the guard out.

"That was a very kind thing you did your grace," Ser Barristan told the eight year old princess as they walked back to the keep. She looked at him and saw respect shining in his eyes and she knew he wouldn't forget this.

"There are many more people like that in this city Ser Barristan," Laena replied sadly. "And yet nothing is being done to help them. "I wish I could do more."

She felt the knight's eyes on her and saw them widen out of the corner of her eye.

Laena knew that people whispered about her in court, about how intelligent she was for one of her age and how compassionate and she had a feeling that this story would be circulating for a while.

It might get back to the king as well but she didn't care. There wasn't much he would be able to do about it and she didn't much care what he thought anyway.

Laena felt tears prick her eyes as she made her way back to the keep with her guards. _Phil what kind of world did you send me to? I've never lived in a place where poverty and suffering is so evident all around me. The worst I saw at Hogwarts was when there was bullying among other students. But this…..this is so much worse. Everywhere I look there are people begging on the streets and my father….the king….does_ nothing.

She wiped her eyes quickly with her fist, looking around discreetly to make sure that no one saw how upset she was and the moment she had gotten back to the keep, she had dashed to her chambers ahead of her septa and bolted the door before warding it with magic.

After that, then she had allowed the tears to run free as she contemplated this strange and bizarre and painful new world she had been born into.

 _Phil I'm not sure why you've sent me here, but I hope it was for a reason. This is very hard to deal with. I sometimes wish you had sent me to a different life. Everyone thinks that being a princess is the most wonderful thing in the world and I can think of a million girls back at school who would have wanted for something like this to happen to them. But all of the wealth and power means nothing when your father abuses your mother and there's poverty and disease and suffering all around you. It really makes you put your life in perspective._

After a while though, her tears dried and she realized how ridiculous she was being. She wasn't sure if Phil had sent her to Westeros for a reason or if he had just picked a world at random but she wasn't about to let her second chance go to waste.

Something Luna had been known for back in Ottery Catchpole was the fact that she had had a very soft heart and whenever one of her neighbors had been ill or laid up, she was always there with soup or ways to cheer them.

It had given her something to do in between chasing down Nargles and spending time with her father when he wasn't working on the Quibbler. It had given her the name sunshine from some of her neighbors because seeing her little head of golden hair at their doors had always brightened up their day.

Laena decided she was going to do the same thing here. Obviously she would have to do it differently but the same principles applied.

She was going to have to live her life differently than she would have as Luna Lovegood, but she was going to have to adjust.

She wiped her eyes and got up off her bed to go and sit in the window seat in her chambers, looking down into the gardens at her mother who was sitting with Viserys who was asleep in her lap.

The queen was smiling at her son and there was so much love on her face that it was enough to make Laena's heart clench.

 _I won't waste this chance I've been given,_ she thought through clenched teeth. _I am going to make a difference in this place in any way I can like I was trying to do in England. That's a promise._

She wiped her eyes again and looked down into the courtyard at her smiling mother. _But I just wish there was someone else who understood this. My brothers are too young in their minds to know and my mother is more preoccupied with the keep and avoiding the king. I will do whatever it takes to protect them. But I wish I had another friend who understood what's in my heart. Rhaegar won't until we're both older._

That person wouldn't come along for another ten years.

Ω

 **So I know Viserys was born much later in the books as opposed to Rhaegar, however I am going to be including some more Targaryen siblings into the mix in this story and it required him to be born earlier, just so you know. Also, Luna is a lot more serious in this story because she's now eight years old and being raised by different parents than she had in England. It's only natural that she would turn out a little different. In the next chapter, Ned comes to the capital and we see more interaction between Laena and Rhaegar. There weren't any conversations between them in this chapter because I wanted to establish Luna in the world first as a Targaryen princess before I went into character development. Anyway, that's it for now. Don't forget to review and enjoy!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 _Nine Years later….._

Laena sat quietly with her mother in the gardens of the Red Keep, the both of them quietly sewing. Two sets of violet eyes were on their work but only one of them was truly working.

The atmosphere was one of peace and quiet but Laena knew it wouldn't be that way for long.

Her brother's wedding was in six weeks and already nobles from all corners of the realm were beginning to make their appearance in the capital.

The great houses of Westeros had been beyond shocked when King Aerys announced his intentions to look for a bride for his son Rhaegar.

Everyone assumed that he would be wed to his twin Laena but the first Targaryen princess had made good on her claims to ensure that she and her brother would not be forced into such a union.

She had been using the Imperius curse on her father for years, poisoning him against the idea of it and now that she and Rhaegar were eighteen, he was looking for a bride for the crown prince that wasn't her.

Laena hadn't said anything to her mother about what she had done, but she had a feeling that Rhaella knew that she was behind her father's change of heart about forcing her and her twin into marriage.

Almost immediately Lord Tywin Lannister, the Hand of the King had put forth his own daughter Cersei as an option to be Rhaegar's wife, but Aerys who was insanely jealous of his Hand had indicated that such a match was beneath his son an instead had chosen Elia Martell of Dorne to be Rhaegar's wife.

The insult was complete when the king also appointed Tywin Lannister's son and heir Jaime to the Kingsguard thus depriving the Warden of the West of his heir and driving him and his daughter from the keep leaving his son behind.

A lot of changes had happened over the last few years as well that had nothing to do with the changing of the guard.

A year after Viserys had been born, Queen Rhaella had given birth to triplets, three boys which were welcomed with great joy by the royal family and the entire realm. They were named Daeron, Aemon and Vhagar.

Rhaegar had been thrilled with the news that he had three more younger brothers to look after as he was already a wonderful older brother to Viserys and spent a good deal of time with the triplets, teaching them how to use a sword and shoot a bow and how to ride a horse.

Laena had been the one to teach them to read and educate them and it had been very hard for her to allow anyone to educate them other than her. She wouldn't let her father near them, and seeing as how he was more obsessed with other things, he ignored them anyway.

Four years later Rhaella brought another boy into the world who they named Baelor and the Targaryen family was now blessed with six sons.

The gods saw it fit to close her womb after that and after seven children she had birthed no more.

Aerys was pleased with the amount of children he had, six sons and a daughter was his belief that the gods were blessing them and that the Targaryen dynasty would be established for a thousand years.

Laena was just glad she wasn't going to be forced to marry her brother in the hopes of fathering more incestuous children.

She was also secretly very glad that her father had turned down Tywin Lannister's marriage proposal in favor of Elia Martell. Elia was a much sweeter gentler person and Laena knew if she was forced to live the next several years in the keep with Cersei Lannister as the queen, she would employ her magic and strangle the girl in her sleep.

Cersei Lannister reminded the part of her that was still Luna of Pansy Parkinson who had been draped all over Draco Malfoy while they were still at Hogwarts. The idea of a woman like that married to her brother made her want to cringe.

 _Turning down her father's proposal of marriage was one of the smartest things that the king ever did. However I question the appointment of his son to the Kingsguard. Tywin Lannister is a dangerous man to have for an enemy. I hope that this doesn't come back to bite us._

"Are you alright?" Rhaella asked and Laena looked up from her sewing.

"Of course mother why?"

Rhaella leaned forward and lowered her tone. "Because you've been extremely quiet since this news of your brother's marriage to Princess Elia came out. You're not…..reconsidering your father's decision are you?"

The horrified look on Laena's face must have been all the answer that her mother needed. "Gods no mother. I told you a long time ago as soon as I could understand the union that you and the king were forced into that I wouldn't allow him to do the same thing to me and Rhaegar. I'm happy that my brother is now marrying a good and kind and sweet woman who would help rule the realm justly and fairly.

And hopefully the Targaryen madness would end with this generation.

 _Now all I have to do is marry a good man, and hope if my mother does become pregnant again that it won't be a daughter. Because if it is, my father might just get the bright idea into his head to carry on this pattern of incest. And I will not stand for that._

For many years, all the members of the court and the realm had no doubt been expecting that the king would wed Rhaegar to his twin and were beyond shocked when that had not happened.

And now there were marriage proposals coming forward for her.

Rhaella had been monitoring each one carefully and ensuring that Aerys never saw them. It was more imperative to her than ever that her daughter meet a good kind, caring man who in time would love her with his whole heart and soul.

She had seen how many of the men of the court looked at Laena and knew that her daughter was stunning even by Targaryen standards. She was even more beautiful than

Rhaella had been at her age and there was a glow about her that Rhaella hadn't had when she was seventeen, a softness and a kindness that she had never had.

Laena and Rhaegar had taken a great interest in helping the people of the city as soon as they had reached the ages of three and ten. Laena had established what she called a soup kitchen in order to feed those who were poor and starving, and there were often times that Rhaegar would go out into the streets with Ser Barristan to play for the people.

Any coin he received for his efforts would be given to those who needed it most.

He would be a wonderful king when his father passed, Rhaella knew it and she also knew that her first twins were already loved by the people for their acts of charity throughout the city.

She had heard whispers in the streets, calling them the silver twins and they were already the favored Targaryens.

Rhaella just thanked the gods every day that her husband had changed his mind about forcing the two of them together. Laena was her only daughter and as such, she felt very protective about her.

She needn't have worried too much though. She and Rhaegar seemed to be the only ones who knew about Laena's magic and though Rhaegar had been a little jealous when he was younger that his sister could do things that he couldn't do, he had since grown out of it and become very protective of her.

The two of them were very close but not in the way that Rhaella had been fearing and the very idea of them being bound together in marriage brought a look of disgust to the twins' faces that she was so glad to see. If anything, it meant that the Targaryen madness would end as soon as Aerys was put into his tomb.

"As am I," Rhaella confided in her daughter as they sat there in the sunshine in the middle of the moonlight garden. "The next few weeks will be a cause for celebration at court. Your brother is marrying a wonderful woman who will soon be here with her brother from Dorne. We must do all we can to take away from your father's madness. We cannot let him dampen this event."

Laena agreed.

In the seventeen years that she had been a Targaryen, Laena had slowly begun to put aside the quirkiness of Luna Lovegood, but not her straightforward honesty, that was something that she would always keep with her.

Her magic had grown stronger over the past seventeen years and now she could use it wandlessly without even thinking about it.

What puzzled her the most though, was the gift of fire manipulation that Phil had given to her because she still didn't know why. He had said that it was a parting gift, but he hadn't said if she would need it for life in this new world or whether or not there was a purpose to all.

 _Ironically sometimes there isn't a purpose to what Death does,_ Laena thought wryly to herself as she sewed with her mother. _Sometimes I think Phil does things just because he can._

The almighty spectre had never shown itself again, but Laena had spent a good deal of time in the sept in the keep just gazing upon the effigy of the Stranger as he stood enthroned on high in stone looking down at all those who entered.

He was the only one she prayed to which was ironic given that the Stranger was the one who was most rarely prayed to by any other because of what he represented. People feared him because he represented a loss of what they knew.

 _If they truly knew Phil they wouldn't be so afraid,_ Laena thought to herself. _He's only a gateway to the next great adventure.  
_

In fact, those had been the famous last words of Professor Dumbledore before he died. She remembered Harry telling her about how the old headmaster had said that death was simply the next great adventure.

 _And how right he was._

"Don't worry mother," she said calmly. "The king's madness won't be a problem this time. Rhaegar will marry Elia and the Targaryen family will expand once more."

Rhaella gave her a meaningful look. "Perhaps it is time that we begin looking for matches for you my daughter. So much effort has been poured into your brother's wedding that very little of it has been spent thinking about yours."

"There is time enough for that yet mother," Laena told the queen calmly.

Truthfully she hadn't thought very much about her own wedding in the last few years what with having six brother to look after.

Viserys looked after his four younger brothers as if he were a mother hen and constantly kept Aemon, Daeron and Vhagar out of trouble. Little Baelor was only four but he was a joy and a delight to be around. Baelor was the sweetest out of all of her brothers and Laena would be damned if she saw him turn into a madman like Aerys.

So far none of her brothers had exhibited any of the Targaryen madness and she was very grateful for that. But Laena was going to continue to keep an eye on them. She couldn't be too careful that it wouldn't manifest as they grey older.

Viserys was only nine and the triplets eight but so far all of them were happy and precocious children who liked nothing more than following after Rhaegar whom they all worshipped.

 _My brother will make a wonderful king,_ Laena thought with pride. _He will put the nightmare of Aerys to bed completely and usher in a new era of stability to Westeros. Gods know we all need it after the last few decades._

Since Tywin Lannister had resigned his post as Hand of the King and taken his daughter and the considerable Lannister forces back with him to the Rock, an air of tenseness had settled over the keep as Rhaegar and Aerys had been trying to find someone to do the job as well as he had.

Unfortunately there didn't seem to be anyone capable of filling the Old Lion's formidable shoes and Laena worried that if a Hand wasn't chosen soon, her father would dissolve the realm into chaos.

 _Hopefully the royal wedding will stave off any madness in my father for the time being,_ Laena thought to herself. _The nobles will be arriving in a few days for the month of feasting that will lead up to the wedding and mother and I need to do all we can to ensure that everything goes smoothly and one insane dragon doesn't ruin it.  
_

She had already met her future good sister and believed her marriage to Rhaegar was one of the good things that her father had ever done, aside from being the seed that brought her precious younger brother's into the world.

That was the way she thought of him. She, Rhaegar, Viserys, Daeron, Aemon, Vhagar and Baelor were Aerys seed and nothing more.

Baelor was only four years old and his big sister did her best to keep her father away from him as she could tell that the littlest prince was afraid of the mad dragon.

Laena and Rhaegar were the only ones alone in the keep who did not fear him. To them, he was a mad man and a fool.

"And soon I can only hope that I will be giving you to a man who is just as worthy of you as Elia is of Rhaegar," Rhaella said softly as she looked at her only daughter with pride.

She thanked the gods every day that most of her children were sons for she feared when Rhaegar and Laena were first born that Aerys would force them into the same depraved relationship that she had been forced into.

After the tragedy at Summerhall and the near collapse of the Targaryen family they had had no choice but to wed and continue carrying on the Targaryen name.

She could only thank the gods for seven healthy children who didn't seem to have an ounce of the Targaryen madness.

But there were times when the queen worried about Laena.

She was by far the most serious of all of her siblings and guarded them most fiercely from the king. She smiled a good deal but there were times when the look in her beautiful violet eyes would startle Rhaella.

It was a hollow look, as if she had seen death itself and what it could do was far older than she actually was.

There was a shadow of pain there that she didn't like to see but wondered where her daughter had gotten it from.

It was a hollow look, the expression of one who had seen much and lost much.

But there was nothing in her life that had been a loss. She was the princess of one of the greatest dynasties in the known world with six brothers who all adored her. Laena was ethereally beautiful, far more so than Rhaella had been when she was seven and ten.

So what was it that was causing the sadness in her eyes?

Her brother Rhaegar poured his moments of sadness into the playing of his harp. He supposed that was how he had earned the moniker, the Bard Prince.

But Laena seemed to channel all of her efforts into her magic.

Rhaella still had no idea what to make of her daughter's odd abilities even though she had been around them for seventeen years.

But she knew she was incredibly powerful despite her calm and gentle veneer. Laena was a dangerous person when angered and the only time Rhaella had ever seen her daughter truly angry was when her family was threatened.

Aerys had barely abused her at all in the last seventeen years since the twins had been born and she knew that she had Laena to thank for that, despite having no idea how she had done it.

And she thanked the gods every day that she was blessed with seven healthy and beautiful children, six of them who would carry on the Targaryen name.

She looked over at her daughter who was truly a stunning young woman. Marriage proposals had been coming forward for her hand since she was twelve years old.

Obviously they would be for when she was older, but Rhaella couldn't hold back a sense of pride as she admired the incredible woman Laena had become.

She was beautiful, strong, passionate, driven, intelligent and gentle. She didn't know if there was a man in Westeros who was worthy of her daughter.

After Aerys had announced Rhaegar's betrothal to Elia Martell and the date of the wedding to be, he had all but ignored Laena's own marriage, a notion which thoroughly confused Rhaella.

Therefore she had taken it upon herself to look into potential matches for her only daughter.

And she would be damned if she gave her daughter to someone who wasn't worthy of her and she didn't care how long it took to find that man. Laena was worth a thousand lords.

Just then her beautiful daughter looked up and caught her eye. "You've been looking at me for a long time mother. Are you alright?"

Rhaella smiled at her. "Of course my darling. I was just thinking about how blessed I am."

Ω

A day later after Elia Martell and her brother had arrived in the keep, Laena was calmly making her way through the halls of the keep to speak with her future good sister privately.

Though the disgusting Targaryen pattern of incest had been broken when she had…..silently persuaded her father to think otherwise, she did want to make sure this Dornish woman was right for her brother.

She had heard good things, but she wanted to see for herself whether or not this Elia Martell was a good fit to be queen and run the realm alongside her twin.

Despite the fact that she had been born after him, she was very protective of all of her brothers, her elder one included.

She had seen the woman from across the court when she and her brother had come before the court to greet the king and though she had determined that she was a beautiful woman that was all she really knew.

Elia Martell was what was known as an exotic beauty with her olive skin and luminous golden eyes and long dark hair but that meant little.

Whenever Laena was tempted to be swayed by a pretty face, she remembered Cersei Lannister, who was no doubt among the most stunning women that she had ever seen, but vile to the very core and not a good match to rule Westeros.

 _I suppose I can thank Phil for that little turn of fate,_ Laena thought wryly to herself as she came upon Elia's chambers.

The doors outside of them were already flanked with several Dornish guard who Laena politely bowed to.

Prince Lewyn smiled at her and she gently returned it. He was Elia's uncle and had been chosen by Rhaegar on her arrival to see to her personally.

"Your grace," he said quietly.

Her smile brightened as she looked at him.

Despite the incident that had happened when she was three, she could see that the Kingsguard respected her and her mother and the rest of her siblings.

But that didn't mean that she let them off the hook for not protecting her mother when she had seen her father abusing her when she was a child and the moment that Aerys was dead she was going to be making some new rules.

 _Perhaps I would have made a good queen after all,_ she thought wryly as she knocked on the door. _Or perhaps that's simply the Nargles messing with my head._

She walked silently through the door and shut it behind her when she heard no sound from within.

Upon entering it though she could see that both Princess Elia and Prince Oberyn were present in the room although both of their backs were to her and they appeared to be arguing heatedly about something.

Like all of the other rooms in the keep, the bed in it was situated on the opposite side of the room and directly ahead of her was a balcony that led out to a view of the gardens and over looked the sea. There was a fire place on the right side of the room to heat it in case it grew cold and the floor were stark white marble.

"There's no need for you to stay as long as all that Oberyn," Elia said gently but firmly. "I have a good feeling about this."

"Well I don't," her handsome brother argued back. "We are in a dragons den with all of these nobles and knights about. I don't trust anyone who's not from our lands to keep you safe. So until such time as I am sure that you will be safe here, I will be remaining with you."

Elia huffed in indignation. "You're worse than Doran. The keep is perfectly safe. I don't know what it is that you're so worried about."

"Perhaps it's because the people in this thrice accursed city lie like it's the air they breathe Elia," the prince retorted. "And you're asking me to leave you alone with them? Don't make me laugh."

The princess opened her mouth to argue back, golden eyes flashing when an unexpected voice broke in.

"As much as I hate to admit it, your brother has a point Princess Elia," Laena said as she stood there calmly observing them. "The keep itself may be safe enough but this city is not an ideal place to be alone in. I know firsthand how power hungry the people in the capital can be."

Elia jumped and whirled around, but Oberyn made no such reaction. Laena had a feeling he had known she was there the whole time and was simply waiting for an opportune moment to turn from the argument and greet her.

She was as silent as a cat on her feet but the Red Viper of Dorne was a legendary fighter and she was not so foolish as to believe that an unknown presence near his sister would go unnoticed.

"Your grace," Elia said curtsying to her. "I didn't hear you come in."

Oberyn bowed as well but that didn't seem to stop his smoldering dark eyes from raking over her body appreciatively, an almost smug smile came to his mouth.

Laena almost wanted to smirk.

Along with being a legendary fighter, Prince Oberyn was also a man known for his….sexual appetites. Women, men it didn't matter. To him sex was sex and he never cared where he got it from or from whom.

Privately, Laena wondered to herself how many bastards he would sire while he was here.

While her body responded to the heat she saw in his dark eyes, she also wasn't completely adjusted to the idea of being beautiful to the point that it caused people to stop and stare.

The Targaryens were known for their ethereally good looks but the part of her that was still Luna Lovegood wasn't used to being beautiful to anyone.

The only one who had been able to see that part of her was Harry and he was still someone that she missed very much.

She turned her attention back to his sister, knowing that if she looked at Oberyn any longer, it would be perceived as rude to the princess.

"You weren't meant to," she said. "But I apologize. My mother has often told me I walk as silently as a cat throughout the keep. I wanted to welcome you to the capital without all of the distractions of nobles about. Might I show you the gardens?"

At once a relieved smile brightened Elia's face. "I'd be honored. I don't think I was expecting the keep to be quite this big."

"It is a bit of an adjustment period," Laena admitted. "But don't worry. I'll take care of you."

There was no malice in her tone and Elia smiled. "Well then I feel much better. Shall we go now?"

Laena nodded. "Of course. You're welcome to join us Prince Oberyn if that is your wish."

The seductive smirk on his face widened. "Nothing would please me more your grace."

Laena inclined her head slowly, observing that Elia's eyes rolled up into her head as if her brother flirting with beautiful women was a common occurrence.

 _I believe I am one woman that he will find it difficult to charm,_ Laena thought to herself smirking as she took Elia by the arm and led her from the room.

"Your home is beautiful," Elia remarked once they were out in the gardens.

"It is," Laena agreed as they walked through the gardens. "But beauty is subjective. Anyone can think of their home as beautiful. But the more time you spend in that place you begin to realize the beauties and the flaws beneath the surface. It's then when you can truly judge what you think of it."

Elia looked at her curiously as they walked and for once Oberyn had nothing to say. "That's very wise your grace."

The dragon princess gave her a warm smile. "It's Laena please. We're going to be sisters soon. Sister's don't call each other your grace."

Elia smiled. "Very well then. What can I expect to find, living in a place like the Red Keep?"

"At first," Laena began because this was something she had learned when she was very small. "Don't trust anyone. This place is a den of liars and betrayers and I know how to live in it since I grew up here but for a foreigner like yourself…..it can be all too easy to succumb."

Elia regarded her warily. "Not even you?"

Laena shook her head. "Not even me. My offering you a tour of the keep could be mistaken for simple charity or graciousness. You have no idea if I might have some ulterior motive in mind. The crown prince is my twin brother. It could be possible that he has asked me to do this on his behalf with some nefarious purpose in mind."

Elia looked alarmed and Oberyn's scowl deepened, but Laena remained calm. She looked at Elia. "My intentions are pure. However it's up to you to trust me and I would strongly encourage you to regard everyone here with suspicion until they have proven otherwise."

"So this was a test?" Elia asked raising an eyebrow.

"In a manner of speaking," Laena smirked. "And you passed. You'll do well here I think."

"Seven hells, I didn't think that in order to become a Targaryen I was going to be verbally baited as well," Elia muttered.

"I simply wish to prepare you, princess," Laena said calmly. "There will be people here who will try to use you in order to obtain more power for themselves. You need to be able to read into their darker purposes. I will try and help you as best I can as will my mother no doubt, but you will be the queen one day. Being shrewd is something that only comes with time."

Elia nodded, but still looked a little apprehensive. "That's good to know at least."

"I warned you that this place would be dangerous Elia," her brother said. He still looked a little tense and Laena could see that he was holding his dagger in his hand. She blinked, she hadn't even seen him reach for it.

 _It seems I've finally met my match when it comes to potential people who might be quicker with the defense than I am._

If Oberyn was going to stay in King's Landing for a time, than she wouldn't have to worry about Elia's safety as much.

That was good at least. She rather liked the Dornish girl. She was very sweet and Laena had no doubts that she would make a good queen.

If the nobles at King's Landing didn't eat her alive first.

Silently she swore an oath to herself that she wouldn't let that happen.

Elia was a far better match for her brother than that hag Cersei Lannister. She had seen the girl's disgruntled looks sent her way when she had been here in the capital.

She knew that Cersei thought of her as a rival for power even though they would both never be queens.

 _It's time that hag knew her place,_ Laena thought to herself with deadly promise. _I mean to teach her it if she does not yet know._

Laena had always been a gentle person but the part of her that was still Luna never forgot any insult and she had sworn a promise to all those who had bullied her in school that she wouldn't forget it. Time would come due for them all. She was a forgiving person, but a slight she never forgot.

"And I am assuming that the members of the small council are not among those to be trusted," Oberyn said though it wasn't a question.

"They least of all are the ones that need to be avoided," Laena explained. "Pycelle is a fool. He will say anything to keep his head. I suspect that he is in the pay of several people here, none of the least of which is Tywin Lannister."

"It was my understanding that Lord Lannister had departed the citadel?" Elia asked.

"He has," Laena confirmed. "However the man's reach is long and he will not forget a slight. He already bears a grudge against my father when the king denied the proposal to make his daughter Cersei the next queen. Insult was added to injury when he appointed his son and heir Jaime Lannister to the Kingsguard. He will not soon forget that."

Oberyn looked grim. "You think he would seek to harm my sister in return."

"I think that Lord Tywin is a man who would slit anyone's throat if it got him more power. He enjoyed being the second most powerful man in the kingdom for twenty years as my father's Hand. Now that that power is gone along with the ability to make his grandchildren princes and princesses as well as with the loss of his heir, he will have a score to settle. And mark my words, he will settle it eventually."

She remembered hearing a conversation when she was five and ten about potentially requesting the king marry her to Jaime. This was before he had been appointed to the Kingsguard.

Though the idea had been intriguing, the appointment of the Lion of Lannister to the Kingsguard was something that Laena was now thankful for as it led to them being good friends. Jaime was arrogant and condescending. But seeing as how they were about the same age they ironically got along very well.

Laena knew Tywin was seething at the missed opportunity to wed his heir to a princess, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

She and Jaime had become good friends in the last year since he had been appointed to the Kingsguard and she thought of him as an annoying younger brother at times. While she would have been alright with the idea of marrying him had the situation been different, she had always had a childish dream even when she was young of marrying someone she was madly in love with. And it hadn't gone away even though she had been reborn into a different life.

"So in essence," Elia began.

"You must be careful," Laena finished. "Politically it is dangerous to live here. There will be some who will guide you. But others you must cut off at the neck before they even come close."

She looked carefully at her future sister and noted the nervous expression on her face.

Oberyn looked grim but he nodded to Laena and she could see that deep down he was thankful for the advice.

 _Good, if he is on his toes than it will prompt Elia to do the same. She's going to need it._

Ω

Later that day marked the beginning of the month's long festivities to celebrate the wedding of Prince Rhaegar and Princess Elia Martell of Dorne.

As a member of the royal family it was required that Laena attend even though she wanted nothing more than to curl up with a good book in her chambers.

She also had to look her best and right now, putting on a gown and baring the right amount of flesh and pretending to be the genial princess was not something that she wanted to do.

But duty called, so she spent a few hours in front of the mirror with her handmaidens ensure that she looked every bit a Targaryen princess.

And when the servant turned her around so she could look in the mirror, Laena had to admit that had she looked like this back in school, Fleur Delacour herself would have been jealous.

Her waist length silvery blonde locks were curled and pulled up to the top of her head so they cascaded down her back like a waterfall.

Her dress was a deep violet, just like her eyes with silver adornments and she knew there would be many eyes on her tonight.

Rhaella had mentioned something about her perhaps meeting her future husband at her brother's wedding.

Laena wanted to scoff at the idea. No doubt there were a good many lords and nobles in attendance but she was sure all of them would try to use her for her family's connections. Scoring a princess as a bride for their sons or themselves was something that was sure to be high on their to-do lists while they were here.

 _Seven hells the wedding isn't nearly for another two moons and already people are thinking about another royal wedding! Don't these people have things do, places to go, people to see? And is it really necessary that I marry? My brother is already doing enough of that for the both of us. I have five other younger brothers who will carry on the Targaryen name. Cannot I for once be my own person?_

These thoughts were pushed aside as she observed the sadness in her violet eyes. It had been there for a while. But then Laena supposed that someone who had been touched by death and seen her family and friends die around her was bound to look sad.

She was grateful for this second chance that she had been given especially now that she was the older sister to five younger brothers all of whom adored her and Rhaegar.

 _I will protect them,_ Laena thought fiercely to herself as the maids helped her with her shoes. _I would burn this entire realm to ashes if it would keep them safe. And with my magic, I probably could._

Her magic had grown stronger as she had become older along with her ability to manipulate fire.

She had guarded it very carefully from her father but it was still something that would require much care not to reveal too much to him. The only ones who knew were her mother and Rhaegar who knew all about the things she could do.

 _A time may come when I may have to reveal it,_ she thought to herself as she strode for the door as a knock had sounded on it which signalled that her younger brother Viserys was there to escort her.

He was only nine years of age, but he was being allowed to attend the banquet tonight and was taking his duties as the Prince of Summerhall quite seriously. Aemon, Daeron Vhagar and Baelor were too young to attend and thus would spend the evening shut up in their chambers with their nursemaids no doubt.

Upon opening the door, she saw Viserys standing there, dressed smartly in red and black, the color of House Targaryen.

"Is that my handsome little brother?" she teased. "Or a knight meant to sweep me away for the evening?"

"Don't tease sister," he said somewhat imperiously. "Mother said we are to look our best and we are representing House Targaryen."

There were times when Viserys worried her a little with all this talk of House Targaryen but he was very quick to laugh like Rhaegar was and he absolutely doted on the triplets and Baelor. He spent more time with them than he sometimes did with her and Rhaegar.

 _It's good for him to spend more time with them,_ Laena thought as she took the arm he gallantly offered her. _That way he won't spend any time with father and more with the people who really matter._

Dressed in their finest they walked through the halls of the keep and down to the throne room where the sounds of music and laughter could already be heard.

No doubt her mother and Rhaegar would already be down in the throne room among the nobles, greeting each and every one and she would be expected as princess to do the same.

"Now we are here to support Rhaegar amidst the people that he will one day rule," Laena whispered to her brother right before they were introduced. "Do you remember what I told you?"

She could see that Viserys was trying hard not to roll his eyes. "Of course I do. How could I forget it with you repeating it to me every hour of every day for the last three weeks until the Martells arrived?"

Laena smirked. "I just wanted to ensure that _you_ were paying attention. We shan't go over etiquette again."

"Thank goodness," Viserys said sarcastically.

After the introduction of the royal family to the nobles, it was then time for them to come before the king and pay homage to the royal family.

"Do you remember who they all are?" Laena asked her younger brother as the many dignitaries came forward.

"That is Mace Tyrell along with his sister Mina Tyrell," Viserys said quietly as they stood of to the side.

It wasn't required that they be near the throne as it was for her brother and brother to. It was a trinity of power after all. The king, the queen and the crown prince had to show that they were united both presently and for the future which Rhaegar represented.

The people had to be secure in the present and have hope for the future and they would only be so if they saw the person who would be leading them upon the present kings' death for themselves.

Laena and Viserys weren't part of the equation as she was only a princess and he was the second son.

Only if something were to happen to Rhaegar would he achieve the title of heir to the throne and as such it wasn't required for him to be standing beside his father.  
Laena preferred it that way. The farther she had her brothers from Aerys even in ceremonial form, the better.

"Very good," she whispered back as she nodded to the somewhat stocky heir of the Reach wearing a customary green and golden tunic doublet and breeches along with a deep green cloak trimmed in gold. His sister was next to him and both bowed before the king.

Laena wondered absently where his fabled mother, the Queen of Thorns was. She was one of the few people that Laena respected for her quick wit, sharp mind and no nonsense manner. It was widely known to all but Mace that his mother ruled Highgarden and he was only a figure head.

 _By the gods I hope this oaf is not offered a place on the small council after Tywin Lannister's departure,_ she thought to herself. _I don't think the realm would survive a man of his considerable….talents._

"There are the Tullys," Viserys whispered to her and she blinked as they stood to the left of the throne as the Lords Paramount of the Trident came forward to pay their respects.

All red haired and blue eyed they reminded her a little bit of the Weasleys although she could admit that the Tullys were far more attractive.

Hoster Tully was there along with his son and heir Edmure who was around Laena's age and his daughter Catelyn who was slightly older.

An alliance was soon to be made between the North and the Riverlands as Lady Catelyn would wed Brandon Stark within a year or two.

And speaking of the north…..

"Here come the Starks," Viserys whispered to her. "But it seems that only Brandon and Eddard Stark could make the journey. That's Lord Arryn and Robert Baratheon with them as well."

Laena paused a moment to look the Starks over. She couldn't deny that Brandon Stark was very handsome, but the look in his eyes was that of someone who knew it. His grey eyes gleamed with a playful arrogance that she didn't really like as he took in all those gathered.

His gaze landed on her eventually and the grey in them darkened with unmistakable lust.

She kept her expression calm and neutral and after observing him as long as was appropriate, she turned her attention elsewhere.

And it landed on his younger brother Eddard.

The men of the north were some of the only people Laena would call decidedly attractive upon first glance. There was a ruggedness to them that appealed to her more basic instincts and she had no idea why.

 _Perhaps it's simply the fact that I like men who look like they're men,_ she thought wryly to herself. _None of these perfumed porcelain dolls of the south have ever struck me as someone who would be able to take care and love and provide for the woman they are wedded to with the will in their hearts and the strength in their hands and bodies. The_ _North men I feel are the only ones who would be able to do that._

Eddard Stark was a little taller than his brother but no less handsome. He had deep brown hair and eyes so grey they reminded her of the clouds before a storm rolled in. His broad shoulders and lean body were as hard as the blade of a knife as if he had spent a lifetime training himself to be at his full physical potential.

She recalled absently that he was a ward of Jon Arryn's as he was being fostered by him along with Robert Baratheon in the Vale.

 _Lord Arryn must be a strict taskmaster,_ she thought, the corner of her mouth turning upwards in a smirk. _The time spent with him must have done wonders for these young men mentally and physically._

Suddenly as if he were aware he was being watched, Eddard Stark looked up and met her gaze.

Unlike his brother, his eyes didn't darken with desire. Instead they simply watched her as if she were no more important than any of the other nobles in the room.

She didn't particularly mind, she wasn't who they had come to see after all. It was only natural that she would receive less attention than her brother as it was his wedding. But he held her gaze for a long time and she marvelled at how intense it was, as if he were taking every part of her in before coming to some silent conclusion.

Laena had no trouble holding his gaze as her magic and her status helped greatly in her confidence.

After what seemed like hours had passed a slight nudge from Viserys broke her concentration.

"What are you thinking so hard about sister?" he asked and she smiled at her nine year old brother's perceptiveness."

"Nothing, little dragon," she said using the nickname she had given him when he was still small. Though he liked being called a dragon, she knew he hated the little part of it and smirked when she was rewarded with a scowl on his face. "I'm simply observing those who have come to pay homage to the king at this joyous time."

Viserys harrumphed but said no more causing his sister's smirk to widen.

She returned her attention to the other dignitaries coming forward as the Starks turned to make their way back to the side, unaware that Eddard Stark was still watching her curiously.

Ω

Sometime later, after she had seen Viserys to bed as his eyes were beginning to droop, Laena came back down to the main floor of the keep but decided she didn't want to remain in the throne room any longer.

She had danced with the visiting nobles all night and had to endure their suggestive words about betrothals and leering glances from across the crowded room.

Laena knew full well that she had inherited the stunning looks of the Targaryens, even more so than her mother. But to her…..that wasn't what was important. And it bothered her that it was the first thing that people constantly seemed to focus on when they met her. She wanted to be judged on her own merit and not on the physicality that she had no control over.

It was with that thought in mind that she decided she needed some air and left the keep to make her way to the godswood to sit and think for a moment.

It was her favorite place in the entire keep as it reminded her the most of her first life and the time she would spend in the Forbidden Forest as Luna Lovegood.

The large weirwood trees were tall and majestic and silent. Even though she wouldn't go there to pray, she did like to meditate beneath them.

The silence and the cool air helped her to think.

Upon entering the cool embrace of the godswood and away from the candles and the heady smell of wine, Laena breathed a sigh of relief.

She walked deeper into the heart of the trees and found the heart tree soon enough and the bench before the pool in front of it, and sat down carefully.

The embrace of night was cool on her bare skin, but she rather liked it as it chased away the heat of the day.

Staring up at the face carved in the heart tree, Laena could almost pretend that it was a calm and caring friend who was ready and willing to listen to what she had to say.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting the fresh air and the cool breezes relax her tense muscles and soothe away the minor stresses of the last few hours.

 _I would end every day in this place if I could,_ she thought to herself seriously.

The godswood was the one place that made her feel almost connected to her old life and the person that she was.

It was a space between worlds so to speak.

It was here that Laena Targaryen felt almost complete.

And then that completeness was disturbed when she heard the sound of footsteps coming towards her.

Surprised, she to see a man walking along the path where there had previously been no one.

He had dark brown hair, almost black and clear grey eyes that seemed to shine like pools of water on this dark night. The moon was full and the emblem of the metal direwolf pinned to his doublet shone clear against the shadows.

Eddard Stark of Winterfell.

He stopped upon seeing her, obviously as surprised to see her as she was to see him, though they both controlled it reasonably well. "My apologies your grace. I did not realize anyone else was out here."

She gave him a brief smile. "Neither did I. It seemed that the festivities were too good to miss. I didn't think anyone would miss me."

Laena had the oddest feeling that Eddard was a little uncomfortable with the sheer grandeur of the festivities. His very name spoke of things in the plainest terms. She had a feeling he was a practical man and not used to the extravagance of the south.

That was made plain when he turned to go. "I leave you to your solitude your grace."

"A little company is better than none," Laena coaxed. "I do believe the godswood of the Red Keep is big enough for the both of us. Won't you sit down?"

He hesitated with his back to her as if he were wrestling within himself about what he wanted to do and what was proper.

His desires won out after a moment and he slowly turned and walked back to her, pausing to gaze at the heart tree.

There was a long silence between the two of them before Laena spoke. "It's times like this when I can almost feel as if that face were alive and waiting to listen to me."

Eddard ran his hand over the red carved face of the heart tree before turning to her, his gaze curious. "Do you frequent the godswood often your grace?"

She smiled but it was tinged with sadness. "As often as I can. It is the one place here that I feel any amount of peace."

He looked at her for a long time as if he were taking a moment to read her expression and didn't say anything. After a few moments of silence he spoke, although hesitantly.

"Forgive me your grace….but it seems as if something is troubling you."

She chuckled softly. "You're very perceptive Lord Stark. But my worries are only for my brother and this journey he is about to embark on."

He nodded as if he understood that and cocked his head to one side as he eyed her. "And is it his fate that worries you?"

Laena would later blame the glass of wine she had drunk earlier as to why her tongue was slightly looser than normal but for the moment decided to speak more freely than she would have normally.

"In part," she said. "The keep is a rather….volatile place to grow up."

"I can see that," he said quietly, but she could sense the wryness in his tone. It made her smile a bit.

"And as such there are expectations that one cannot get away from," she finished.

"The king's expectations or your own your grace?" he asked and she was so surprised she simply stared at him for a moment.

The truth was, Laena did have a lot of expectations for herself. She had been determined when she was born in this new world that she was going to do things differently, that this would be a life of peace and happiness that she hadn't had when she was Luna Lovegood.

Her expectations had been quickly dashed when she understood the volatile environment that she had been born into. And it quickly became about using her magic to survive and not follow along the horrible path that her ancestors had.

Laena had expectations to be different, to be _better._

And the truth was, they were weighing heavily on her.

Eddard must have taken her long silence to mean that he had offended her for he opened his mouth to apologize before she waved her hand to stop him.

"Once again, you're very perceptive my lord," she said. "And very astute as well it would seem. Perhaps you're right."

She was a little surprised when he gave her a small smile as he continued to rest his hand on the heart tree.

Laena found she rather liked it when he smiled. It made an extraordinary difference. His almost grim and sober demeanor would melt away and she could see a genuine happiness there.

 _He should smile more often._

Finally he spoke. "And given these expectations, what is it that you want your grace?"

When Laena answered him, she was staring deep into the face of the heart tree. "I'm not sure. To be better than my legacy perhaps. Legacy can be a terrible burden and the price from deviating from it can be quite high."

Eddard raised an eyebrow at her. "You have an uncommonly cynical view of the world your grace."

She gave him a gentle smile. "No doubt one of my many flaws."

She couldn't read the look he gave her next. "I doubt there are many your grace."

Laena locked gazes with him for a long moment, grey eyes staring into violet and found that those eyes was a little unnerving.

"It is getting late my lady," he said quietly to her. "May I show you back to the keep? It would not be seemly if we stayed out here for much longer alone."

Laena smiled and slowly got to her feet. She had forgotten the fabled honor of the Starks and how it was uncouth for them to treat anyone else with anything other than the utmost respect.

They did not forget a slight however and she decided it wouldn't do to start off with this wolf on the wrong foot.

"You may," she said when she had stood up.

Eddard immediately offered her his arm which she accepted and the two moved slowly back towards the light and laughter of the keep in silence.

It didn't take the beautiful blonde long before she realized that Eddard Stark liked the silence over words being spoken and he consistently thought about what he said before he said it.

It was a little unnerving because she was used to men consistently speaking with her and chattering on and on about an endless array of things to the point where she wanted to curse them into silence.

But she knew then that she wouldn't have to be around him long for her to know that Eddard Stark was an honorable man who kept his silence and let his steel speak for him.

She was both relieved and disappointed when they finally got back to the keep.

Laena turned her head to bid him farewell but he inclined his head to her before she could do so. "Good night your grace."

After that, he turned and walked away without a backward glance down the hall and out of sight.

Laena stared after him in confusion for a long moment. He was an interesting one…..he would bear watching to say the very least.

Ω

 **I wanted to give Luna a few more siblings just cuz she didn't have any in her first life and I wanted to see how she would react to being an older sister. Don't forget to review and enjoy!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

When Laena awoke the following morning, it was to a shaft of bright sunlight filling her chambers. She blearily blinked the light out of her eyes before getting up to stretch, surprised at how relaxed she felt.

Soon after Eddard Stark had returned her to the keep and disappeared for gods knew where, she had been asked for a dance by his brother Brandon. She had smiled and graciously accepted but didn't particularly like the rakish look in his eyes as they had swayed back and forth to the music.

 _"I imagine that you are asked to dance quite frequently on these types of occasions your grace," he said._

 _His tone was somewhat suggestive and she wasn't sure she like the roguish look in his eyes but decided that the best way to handle him was to simply be calm. Brandon appeared to be one of those young men who was used to enjoying the best. And if at the moment the best was a beautiful woman, well then all the better._

 _"Quite frequently," she replied calmly. "I can barely walk three feet in this keep without someone stopping me to speak with me."_

 _Brandon's smile turned even more roguish. "A pity then that I am promised to another. Were you mine I would not leave your side."_

 _She raised an eyebrow at him. Laena was well used to dealing with men who only saw her face or her body or her eyes so the fact that he was only perusing her because of all three didn't alarm her much._

 _She had ways for handling men like that._

 _"I'm sure you will be able to handle the disappointment my lord," she said coolly. "My father wouldn't give me to just anyone."_

 _Brandon didn't even notice the subtle dig which made her want to smirk._ He wouldn't last ten minutes in the south if this is where he lived permanently, _she thought._

Soon after that, Lord Mace had cut in on Brandon who looked somewhat displeased that his amusement was being taken away but went off no doubt to find Lady Catelyn.

Laena had seen the quiet adoration the Tully girl had given him when the two had been conversing earlier and knew that this girl was in for a difficult marriage if she was blind to the fact that Brandon Stark liked to stray.

 _It's a shame that there are so few men with honour in this second life I'm living. What I would give to find just one._

The evening had continued on and no thought had been given to the king's madness or the menacing leer he had looked at all of the guests with.

Rhaella had been doing her best to ensure that she act the part of a perfect queen but Laena could see that her mother was beginning to become tired from the stress of it all.

Sometime past midnight, Laena decided that it was high time that she and her mother retire and so had taken the exhausted queen upstairs to bed. Rhaella had protested, saying that she was perfectly well, but Laena knew that the stress of her brother's wedding had been weighing heavily on Rhaella and she would need all the rest she could get in the next six weeks of festivities and tourneys.

If anything that would re-invite the wrath of the king and that was something that no one needed to see.

Elia and Rhaegar's meeting had gone well it seemed at least. They were polite and courteous to each other and though there was no love there yet, Laena hoped that in time they would one day find it.

Thinking of her brother's marriage brought to mind thoughts of her own and she was unable to stop herself from wondering who it might be that she was given to.

None of the nobles she had glimpsed the night before had made her feel anything other than queasy. Especially Mace Tyrell.

She could only thank the seven that he had been recently wed to Alerie Hightower and was thus removed from her ring of potential matches.

Today would no doubt be another day of quiet before the nightly feast took over once more and she would have to wear her usual political mask.

She had been teaching Baelor had to read and he was a precocious child who worshipped his older brothers and wanted to do everything that they did. He was too young to swing a sword or shoot a bow at four but he could be educated and it was never too young to teach him how to be a prince in the intellectual sense.

Laena had already searched her brother's mind for signs of the Targaryen madness and was pleased to find that there was none.

In fact it seemed that Phil had left her with one final gift in addition to her strange ability to manipulate fire. None of her siblings suffered from the Targaryen madness. Viserys was very proud of the Targaryen name and the legacy that came along with their house but it was a far cry from her father's demands for incest to be committed in order to keep their bloodlines pure.

She fervently hoped that Aerys was dead before Viserys and all of her younger brothers were old enough to understand that House Targaryen was as corrupted by incest as any of the other ancient Valyrian Houses.

One of these days when her father was dead and in his tomb and there was no more reason for his madness to taint the keep, Laena planned to tell her brothers that the legacy of House Targaryen was corrupted by incest.

She didn't do it to make them feel degraded but to warn them that this was not something they would be able to continue.

House Targaryen now had six sons that would carry on its name and there was no need for it to be anymore corrupted by incest as it had been in the past.

That tradition would die with Aerys.

In the meantime, she got up and dressed, having already made up her mind to spend time with Elia today and get to know her better.

The Dornish princess was essentially going to be in Laena and Rhaella's care for the time that she was here.

Elia would have to pick at least two ladies in waiting as well and Laena already knew that she and her mother would be among them.

Court politics really were exhausting at times, she thought to herself as she was dressing for the day with the help of one of her maids.

 _When I was still Luna Lovegood things were so much simpler,_ Laena thought somewhat sadly. _Now I have to fend off marriage proposals, I am far more beautiful than I ever dared think it was possible for me to be, I have to constantly be looking over my shoulder for those liars who would try to harm or to use me and my family and always watch my back for the ones that I cannot see. Seven hells I do hope when I am married I will not have to worry about such nonsense as I will be away from the keep entirely._

She couldn't deny that she was both excited and nervous for such a time as that would be. Marriage was such a foreign concept to her when she had still been Luna. All she had wanted was to seek adventure after adventure and find those creatures that everyone had told her didn't exist.

But now she was a beautiful princess living in a castle by the sea and she had more brothers than she knew what to do with.

Her magic was stronger than ever with an added elemental component and there were no such things as Nargles and Wrackspurts in this place not to mention no sign of the Crumple Horned Snorkack.

Perhaps they lived in the mountains north of the wall, but seeing as how Laena had no urge to travel there, she would never know.

Living in the snow had never really bothered her as she school she had gone to as Luna Lovegood had snowed several months out of the year.

Here though, summer could last decades and winter could last generations.

It had been a big adjustment period for Laena when she had first arrived here, but seeing as how she was a child then, she wasn't expected to know such things. They were explained to her eventually.

Upon choosing a silk gown of pale grey with an open back, Laena left her hair in the maiden style of Highgarden and briefly looked herself over in the floor length mirror before deciding she looked presentable.

She had decided she would take Princess Elia down to the shore today along with her little brother Baelor.

The youngest Targaryen loved the water above everything else and was happiest when he was splashing his hands in it or else immersed in the wetness entirely.

It would do Elia good no doubt to bond with the child and perhaps Baelor would adjust well to his new sister.

She knew she was going to have to play the diplomat between the Martells and the Targaryens until Elia was well ensconced at court for people not to question her place here and she intended to help her future sister in whatever way she could. It was a bit of a relief now that Cersei Lannister was gone and the tension from Tywin Lannister's absence was diffused albeit temporarily from the wedding.

When it all grew to be too much, Laena would simply apparate to somewhere far away where she might spend the day in peace and solitude. Usually it was the summer isles where she might spend the day on the shore and think about nothing but the sun on her face and her feet in the water. She could let the soft gentle breeze blow her hair back and for a moment remember her old life and how simple things were before she was a princess.

Granted there was also a war she had been involved in, but when she was a child, all she had to worry about was the next animal she and her father were going to find, or the next article of the Quibbler they were going to write. Laena's first father hadn't been a madman with a taste for fire and blood and obsessed with a legacy born through incest.

Knowing that she was a product of such a union was a hard thing for her to swallow and yet with time she had grown used to the idea. It didn't mean that she liked it, but Phil had obviously had something in mind when he had sent her here and she was just figuring it out as she went along.

In the meantime once she had dressed for the day, Laena left her chambers and proceeded on down the hall until she had reached her little brother Baelor's room and tapped on the door.

It was opened no more than a moment later by his nurse who bowed when she saw the princess.

"Good morning your grace," she said brightly. "The little prince is ready for you."

Laena smiled at the kindly older woman. She had been with the Targaryen family for a long time and had looked after her and Rhaegar when they were children. Her name was Lenna and now her task was looking after the youngest Targaryen.

Laena stepped into the room and saw her little brother sitting on his bed with a ball in his lap and smiled fondly at him. Rhaegar knew how much his youngest brother loved to play and so had had the ball made for him.

It was a small rubber thing that once bounced against the ground or the wall would fly exceedingly high. Baelor thought it was great fun and would spend hours playing with it once his lessons had concluded.

Upon seeing his big sister, the youngest Targaryen jumped off the bed, a bright smile lighting his face. "Laena! You're here! Can we go play now?"

The only dragon princess knelt down in front of him and kissed his cheek. He screwed up his face and made a big show of wiping his cheek causing Laena to smile. Baelor was at the age where public displays of affection were taboo. He was too young to hold a sword or shoot a bow or ride a horse so all he could do was play. Laena had been teaching him how to read and had made great progress thus far.

But now that their brother was going to be married in a month, lessons could be put aside for the time being. Now it was time for fun.

"We are going to play," she said causing him to look up at her again. "But Princess Elia is coming with us this time. I want you to meet her because you didn't yesterday. You remember her don't you?"

Baelor scrunched up his little face as if he were thinking hard. "Is she the pretty one? The one with long black hair?"

Laena gave her four year old brother a gentle laugh. He was also at the age where he distinguished everyone in terms of looks and was very blunt about it too. Laena knew she was going to have to begin teaching him tact soon enough. But for right now his direct speech was rather adorable.

"Yes, she's very pretty," she replied gently. "She might like it if you tell her that. And after she marries Rhaegar she's going to be living in the keep with us. She'll be your new sister so you need to treat her with respect all right?"

Baelor looked confused. "But you're my sister. Does that mean now I'll have two sisters?"

Laena smiled. "Yes it does. But I am your sister by blood and she will be your sister by marriage. That's the difference."

Baelor nodded trying very hard to look like an adult, adorably so. "Alright then. And I'll meet her today?"

"Yes you will."

"And will she play with me like you do?"

Laena smiled gently. "I'm sure she will if you ask her nicely. We'll go down by the shore and then we can play with your ball. How does that sound?"

Baelor's face lit up and Laena had a feeling she had made the right call in deciding to bring her brother with her to meet Elia. Children always seemed to have a way of diffusing the tension in a situation.

She had observed Elia the night before as she had danced with her brother and had seen the tension in the girl's face and posture. She had obviously been thinking hard about what Laena had told her before the feast the night before.

 _I hadn't meant to set her on edge,_ Laena thought as she took her brother's hand and walked from his room. _But she needs to know what she's in for. Hopefully it will ease her mind to know that her husbands family will be there to look out for her._

It didn't take long to reach Elia's chambers and Baelor had a spring in his step the way he always did when he knew they were going to play. The sun was shining through the windows in the keep and casting bright shafts of square lights on the hallway floors as they walked.

The air was exceedingly warm, betraying that it was the middle of summertime and a hot breeze blew in through the open windows and balconies, lifting Laena's long curls off of her shoulders.

They reached the door to Elia's chambers a few moments later and Laena smiled at Prince Lewyn who had once more taken up residence in front of the future queen's chambers before tapping on the door.

There was a moment of silence before the sound of footsteps could be heard on the other side along with the sound of the bolt being pulled back.

Elia's round face appeared a moment later, her eyebrows raised in question. But then her golden eyes lit up when she saw who her visitors were. "Your graces! I didn't expect you this early in the morning after the events of last night."

Laena gave her a gentle smile. "My little brother is too young to attend the festivities so he received as much sleep last night as it was normal for him to have. I myself find I function better on less sleep. I thought it might be good to show you around the keep today. It will be your home soon enough and Baelor was anxious to join us. You don't mind do you?"

"Not at all!" Elia exclaimed. "I would be honoured. If you give me a moment I should be pleased to join you shortly."

She disappeared back into the room and came back out with a black silk wrap draped over her arms which complimented the golden dress she was wearing nicely. "Shall we go?"

Laena slid her arm through Elia's as if to take the lead and was pleased when her new sister didn't resist. If anything, she tightened her grip on Laena's arm as they walked down the hallways of the keep with Baelor holding on to his sisters other hand.

Every few feet he would bounce his ball against the floor and it would make a smacking sound causing Laena to smile.

They made it outside the keep and past the long walkway of trees down to the steps that looked out onto the rocky coastline of the Blackwater Bay. The keep had it's own private section of beach where only the members of the royal family and visiting nobles went. It was a clear section of beach and there were no trees about, only large rocks scattered here and there. In the bright sunlight, the water appeared almost as blue as the fabled Jade Sea and the water was calm close to the shore. A decent wind was blowing but it was not harsh or cutting. It was a wind that would take the edge off of a hot day and Laena hoped it would continue.

In the distance, one could see the harbour and all the ships that were weighing anchor and had come into port or were leaving. The princess could faintly hear the call from sailors to other sailors across the water and the port of King's Landing was one of busy hustle and bustle, even at this early hour.

Today because it was still early however, that section of beach was deserted and they had it all to themselves.

Baelor gave a great whoop when he realized this and let go of his sister's hand to dash forward onto the sand.

"Out of all of my brothers, Baelor is the one who most likes to swim," Laena explained to her future sister apologetically. "He can't get enough of the water and when winter comes he is always disappointed when my mother does not let him go outside."

Elia smiled as she watched the child playing in the shallows as the two princesses settled onto the sand. "I know how he feels. In Sunspear when my brothers and I were younger, one of our favorite things to do was to play in the water near our own palace. I think it would break my heart if I ever had to live far from the ocean."

Laena turned her attention to her brother who was busy throwing his red ball into the air and catching it happily as he stood calf deep in the shallows. He was never happier than when he was in the water and one of her favorite things was to watch him smile. When she saw him play, it made everything that their father was and had done almost worthwhile. Baelor may have been a product of incest like she was, but he was still her darling little brother and she would draw blood before she saw anyone hurt him.

"One of his favorite things to do is play with that red ball and be in the water," she explained quietly to the Dornish woman as they sat in the sand, barefoot with their skirts tucked around them. "And when both are happening at the same time, he is immensely happy."

Laena knew this dress would probably require a cleaning later on from the grains of sand caught in its folds, but at the moment she didn't care.

"He is very sweet your brother," Elia said quietly as she observed the little prince. "I wish one day to have a child like him."

"I'm sure you will."

The look on Elia's face turned slightly sad and Laena frowned in puzzlement. "Is something wrong?"

Elia gave a sigh that seemed to come from the bottom of her soul. It betrayed a heavy burden as if this particular thought had been weighing on princess's mind for a long time.

The Dornish woman twisted her hands in her lap and looked exceedingly uncomfortable, to the point that Laena almost wished she hadn't asked. "You do not have to talk about it if you don't wish to. There are some secrets that should be kept."

"It's not that," Elia said after another long silence. "It is something I've never told anyone before, not even my brother. It might simply be my own worries, but there are times when I can't help thinking the worst."

Sensing her future sister was about to share something very personal with her, Laena went silent and simply waited to see if she would be comfortable enough to share what was on her mind.

Eventually Elia did but it seemed to take a good long while and when she looked at Laena again, the dragon princess was alarmed to see tears in her eyes.

She spoke then, albeit in a shaky voice that was one of deep sorrow, like she had been burdened by this for a while.

"I was very ill when I was a child," the princess explained. "And there were several time before I reached the age of two and ten where the maester thought I would die. Oberyn was very concerned and there were times when he refused to leave my bedside. Eventually I seemed to pull through the illness each time but I was always afraid that it would affect my ability to have children. To this day I still don't know if I will be able to. And it frightens me. What is my place in this world if I cannot bear an heir for the prince?"

By the end of her quiet but impassioned speech, the great shining tears in her eyes had begun to slide in silver rivers down her cheeks as she stared hard out at the horizon. Her shoulders didn't shake, but her hands were trembling slightly and she twisted them together in an attempt to hide her emotion.

Laena felt a surge of compassion for the Dornishwoman than and reached out to take her hand gently which stayed the trembling.

"Did the maester mention the possibility of infertility?" she said softly. Elia sniffed and shook her head. "All of my illnesses happened before my moon blood came. And when it finally arrived there didn't seem to be any residual side effects."

"And you've experienced no pain since it came?" Laena asked gently. "I only ask because the subject of healing interests me and has for a good long time. Our grand maester himself has taught me."

Elia shook her head. "Other than it coming at irregular times, that has been all that has been out of the ordinary. Yet is has always worried me. Suppose I cannot bear children?"

Laena squeezed her new friend's hand, feeling sympathy for the woman. In her first life after she had given birth to her, Pandora Lovegood had also been told that she would no longer bear children. Even though Laena knew her first mother had loved her with all of her heart, there had also been a sadness in her eyes borne of a desire to have more offspring.

Even though her second mother Rhaella had born seven healthy children, that had been a rather exceptional case. Laena was well aware that cases of incest could result in infertility and she remembered after her mother had given birth to herself and Rhaegar, the maesters were doubtful of her ability to bear more.

Laena, fearing for her mother because her father was sure to dislike the idea of only having two children spent hours racking her brain for solutions.

In the end, she had had to improvise and take measures both to protect her mother and herself and Rhaegar.

And so she had brewed a makeshift fertility potion. Granted, she didn't have many of the magical ingredients necessary for such a thing, but after extensive botanical research, Laena had discovered that there were apothecaries in the capital that carried herbs that were known to increase the chances of fertility.

Hoping that with her magic and a whole lot of luck, her mother conceiving again would be possible, Laena had purchased the herbs, brewed the potion herself using her memories of the potion from her first life and waited for the opportune moment to slip it to her mother.

By this time she had been seven years old and she knew Rhaella was desperate to conceive again. Deciding to take a risk, Laena had slipped the potion into her mother's wine and prayed that the makeshift ingredients she had used as substitutes to supplement theatrical ones would be in her favour.

Whether it was her own ingenuity or magic or simply the luck of the gods, it had worked and Rhaella had conceived and given birth to Viserys.

Laena had been thrilled as had her mother and the rest of the royal family. Given the success with the potion, and the fact that she knew her father wouldn't just be satisfied with two sons, Laena had brewed the potion again and slipped it to her mother. When the triplets were born with great fanfare, Laena had decided that five sons would be enough.

And then to her great surprise, Rhaella had conceived a fourth time and given birth to little Baelor. This time, Laena hadn't been able to claim that a makeshift fertility potion was the result and decided that perhaps Phil had decided to give her one more gift.

Aerys of course had been thrilled because now he had had seven children, his belief that the gods were blessing them as seven was the number of the gods they worshipped as well.

Laena left him to his delusions, she was just glad her mother wouldn't suffer anymore by his hand as a result of her lack of fertility.

Six sons and one daughter was more than enough and after that Rhaella had birthed no more.

At least now his delusions have turned to other things rather than brutalizing my mother, Laena thought bitterly.

"My mother went through the same problems after she gave birth to myself and Rhaegar," the princess explained gently to hers sister in law who was still looking a little teary. "But I recall her praying to the Mother and she blessed the queen by opening her womb. I am not a particularly devout person but seven children is something that I cannot overlook."

Elia wiped her tears and gave Laena a watery smile which was returned genuinly. "I suppose I am being a bit foolish."

"No. you are not being foolish at all," the dragon princess reassured her gently. "This is a legitimate concern that all women fear they will struggle with. This world isn't particularly kind to women and we all hope against hope that the unlucky one will not be us. But I don't think that woman will be you."

Elia took a deep breath. "How are you so sure?"

Laena smile at the sky and the positioning of the sun in it. "Logic for one. The maesters never told you that you will not be able to conceive and your moonblood has come consistently since your illnesses. That alone should tell you that you are resilient enough that your body has recovered. And secondly and this might perhaps be a bit blunt but I have found that they are words to live by; you don't know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you won't conceive. You fear that you might not be able to, but you don't know. I find it is rather useless to worry about something until you know with absolute certainty that it will or won't happen. All worry does is succeed in giving your head grey hairs before it is time for them to appear."

To her surprise, Elia smiled and not one as if she were simply smiling through the pain but one where she was feeling relieved.

And then she began to laugh softly. "I suppose I've never truly thought about it that way before. Those are useful words to live by. Why worry unless there is something to worry about?"

"Precisely."

The two women smiled at each other and Elia opened her mouth as if she were going to say something more when a sudden cry caught their attention.

Both females shot to their feet and Elia gave a horrified gasp when her eyes caught sight of a struggling Baelor in the waves. He had clearly gone out farther than he intended to after his ball and had been caught up in an undertow.

His little silvery blonde head disappeared beneath the large waves before popping up again and Elia pressed her hands to her mouth in terror.

Laena had already dashed down to the shoreline, her eyes only on her little brother a fierce expression on her face. Elia was hot on her heels, lifting her long skirts so she wouldn't trip herself up.

Baelor was being swept out further into the bay and Elia was now overcome with terror at watching the little boy she she was sure was about to perish before their eyes. She was a strong swimmer but with her long skirts there was no way she would be able to reach the little prince without drowning herself, nor she was sure would Laena.

And then three things happened that were quite strange.

Laena was in the midst of muttering something beneath her breath and Elia only had time to wonder what in earth she was saying before the second odd thing happened.

A figure that had been farther up the shore that they hadn't noticed until that moment could be seen diving into the water and swimming with strong cutting strokes through the waves towards the struggling little prince.

Elia's fear lessened when she saw the figure reach Baelor Targaryen and take hold of him, holding him up so his head was above the waves.

And then the third strange thing happened.

Laena began muttering something again but it was so fast that Elia wasn't able to catch it. What she did observe however was the fact that as soon as Laena finished speaking, she made a gesture almost as if she were beckoning someone to come to her.

Elia blinked and the next thing she knew, both the little prince and his rescuer were standing on the shore no more than five feet away from her and the princess. The both of them were dripping wet and Baelor was panting hard, his violet eyes wild with fear.

When he saw his sister standing before him, he burst into tears and flung himself into her arms where she gathered him up and held him against her tightly.

Laena closed her eyes and felt her relief wash over her in wave after wave. She closed her eyes and held her trembling and dripping little brother against her, speechless with relief that he was alright and cursing herself for her carelessness.

She had become so engrossed in her conversation with Elia and how serious it had been that she hadn't been paying as much attention to her little brother as she should have. By the time she had looked up upon hearing his scream it had nearly been too late.

She had nearly panicked then and forgotten herself. Because she had had to hide her magic much more since she had been reborn as a Targaryen princess the muggle method had become something she had had to employ more often than she would have if she were still Luna Lovegood.

And for a moment, she had nearly thrown herself into the waves to swim to her brother before she had remembered herself.

In those few seconds, someone else had jumped into the water and took over the task of saving her brother.

She looked up to the stranger to offer him her heartfelt thanks for saving her brother and suddenly blinked in surprise when she saw who it was.

A dripping Eddard Stark was standing before her, soaked to the skin. He wasn't breathing as hard as Baelor had been and it was more from the exertion rather than the fear. His expression was somewhat confused and she could tell that he was wondering how he had gone from being neck deep in the water to standing on the shore.

Laena wondered absently what he had been doing down on the shore line in the first place but thanked the gods all the same that he had been there.

She turned back to her brother whose trembling and tears had since ceased and was now only shivering from the cold. "Are you alright sweet boy?"

Baelor pulled back and nodded before wiping the last of the tears from his eyes. "I don't know what happened. I put my foot down and all of a sudden I could stand up anymore!"

"That will be the undertow your grace." Stark said then quietly and instantly he had everyone's attention. "It can be treacherous."

"Well I should say so!" Elia exclaimed. "We have experience with such things in Sunspear but certainly they are not as volatile. I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't been there Lord Stark."

"Yes, Lord Eddard," Laena replied having finally got her emotions under control. "I don't know how I can express my thankfulness for what you did. But what were you doing this early in the morning down on the shore?"

His quiet grey eyes observed her for a moment, and Laena had a feeling that he was a very perceptive individual and was somehow trying to gage her reaction about what had happened. He seemed to have gotten over his confusion about what had happened but she had an odd feeling that he wouldn't soon forget it.

"Sleep had eluded me," he explained in a soft voice. "I had decided to take a walk and chanced upon this small shoreline. I had not been here very long when I heard the cry of the young prince and acted accordingly."

Laena nodded, her relief about her brother's safety slowly ebbing and her heart rate slowing along with it.

"It was the luck of the gods that you were here," Elia said giving voice to her thoughts even though Laena was thinking something far different because she didn't believe in the gods at all. "We should perhaps take Prince Baelor inside your grace and see to his wet clothes."

"Indeed," Laena replied and got to her feet, smoothing out her dress that was now somewhat damp from her brother's voice like embrace. "We wouldn't want him to catch a chill."

She glanced up at Lord Rickard's second son who was in the midst of wringing out the edge of his tunic and appeared to be looking anywhere else but at them. "You should as well Lord Stark."

Elia took Baelor's hand and turned away, but Laena hesitated only a moment before going up to Eddard Stark very quickly.

"Thank you," she whispered before she softly kissed his cheek and hurried after her future sister and brother without looking at his face. She didn't really know what compelled her to do it and a moment afterwards she was questioning her sanity on the action but she decided not to look back.

She would later blame it on the relief that she was feeling that Baelor was safe and the part he had played in the little prince's rescue. She convinced herself it was a perfectly normal thing and that she should not think that it had been at all improper.

But as Laena hurried after Elia and her little brother, she could feel the hard eyes of Eddard Stark boring into her back and shivered slightly, a little more than unnerved by everything that had happened.

Ω

"Are you certain that he will be alright?" Rhaella asked

It was several hours later and the two Targaryen females were once more preparing for an evening of festivities. Rhaella had come to her chambers about an hour earlier while Laena was still bathing unannounced and shooed the maids away, saying she would help her daughter dress.

It was an odd notion as usually her mother didn't do such things but as soon as the queen mentioned Baelor, Laena understood that it was her mother's wish to talk about her youngest child without being overheard.

After she and Elia and gotten the youngest prince back to the keep and somehow up the stairs to his chambers away from the eyes of prying servants, the Dornish princess had bid them farewell and said she would see them at the feast that evening. She had claimed fatigue and wanted to rest.

Laena had taken her brother into his chambers and helped him into dry clothes before towering off his hair and getting him into bed. She had then called the prince's nurse and asked her to watch him as he had taken a tumble into the water and she didn't want him to become ill.

After that, she had gone to find her mother and let her know what had happened that morning.

Understandably, Rhaella had been concerned when she had heard what had almost happened to her youngest son. She was very protective of all of her children and saw them as the gods way of blessing her for having to endure Aerys for so long. She had wanted to go to his chambers, but Laena convinced her not to saying that he was sleeping and that it wouldn't be wise to disturb him.

After her detailed explanation the queen had calmed down. She and also been surprised to learn that it was Lord Eddard that had saved him.

Because Rhaella knew about her daughter's magic she had thought Laena would be the one to pull her brother from the waves. Her surprise was all that more palpable when Laena informed her that Lord Eddard had been the one to do it and that she had only used her magic to bring them ashore once the second son of Lord Rickard had managed to get to Baelor.

"He should be fine," Laena supplied and the queen looked at her daughter in concern. She had been quiet all day since the incident occurred and Rhaella knew she blamed herself for not paying attention. She wished she wouldn't. Magic or no it could have happened to anyone and Laena had always taken too much onto her shoulders. Laena and her were very alike in that they had an innate desire to want to take care of everyone they loved and guard them fiercely. Her daughter had the means to do it far better than she ever could though and as such she expected more of herself than anyone around her did.

Rhaella reached over and took her daughter's hand, absently tucking a stray pale curl behind her ear. "I wish you would not carry this on your shoulders. You could not have foreseen that something like this would happen despite how powerful you are. Baelor does not blame you and neither do I. We may thank both the gods and Lord Eddard that something terrible did not happen."

That was something else that Rhaella had been puzzled about. She was relieved beyond words that Eddard Stark had been nearby and had pulled her son from the waves, but it was her daughter's reaction to him being there that was the most puzzling.

Laena had been uncommonly vague in her mention of Stark's role in the events and that was surprisingly. She had always been very detail oriented and the fact that she seemed to be being vague about what had happened was unlike her.

From then on, whenever Rhaella had mentioned Eddard Stark's name and how she must thank him personally, an almost tight look came over Laena's face like she was uncomfortable just hearing his name.

Rhaella made up her mind that she was going to observe both her daughter and Lord Eddard very carefully over the next few weeks until after the wedding. If Lord Stark had the power to make her daughter uncomfortable even by his name being mentioned, than she was curious about him.

Sure enough, Laena took the pause in conversation to change the subject and Rhaella took a moment to admire how beautiful her daughter looked this evening.

The fashions of the south had always been a little more risqué that the north and it showed in the garments that the women of King's Landing and Highgarden wore. Baring flesh had simply become something she herself had become used to over the years and weddings were no exception.

Tonight, Laena was attired in their house colours of black and red which culminated in a flowing red skirt and a slight dip in the skirt that ended just below her navel. In her first life, Laena was no stranger to the idea of muggle bathing suits but she had never expected to find the tops of some of the garments in Westeros to be so like those of muggle England.

The top of the dress she was wearing consisted of a red piece of cloth fashioned in such a way that it was separate from the skirt and the fabric was almost beveled so it appeared like dragon scales. It covered her chest almost like a tube top so the skin of her stomach and arms were bare. There was a slight valley in between the middle of her chest so it bared her breasts slightly and was also red. Connected to the skirt and covering over the rest of her bare stomach and back were two long thin black straps also beveled to appear like dragon scales. They ran up to her shoulders and created a covering over top of her shoulders that was slightly pointed.

She had left her pale locks in curls with certain pieces pinned up, bot on the whole it was left alone.

Laena was a little uncomfortable showing this much skin but when her mother had produced the dress, citing that it would be perfect for the evening, she hadn't had the heart to refuse.

She did admit she looked rather nice, far better than Luna Lovegood had ever hoped to look. But then the Targaryens ethereal good looks had been a point of interest throughout the last several centuries.

"Is Viserys joining us this evening?" Laena asked quietly as her mother took her arm and the two of them exited the room quietly.

"Not tonight," Rhaella said quietly as Jonathar Darry moved from his position beside the door to follow them down to the throne room. "He spent the day with your older brother and was rather tired when he returned to his chambers."

Laena nodded, feeling a little disappointed. When she needed to be distracted Viserys was the best at doing that, even better than her twin. Even though he was only nine, being like her eldest brother was his biggest ambition and it was quite adorable to watch him try and be like Rhaegar in every aspect.

She wouldn't have him to whisper in her ear tonight about the different houses and this evening Laena would have welcomed that. Especially after the events that had transpired this morning.

Aside from Elia and her mother and of course Lord Eddard, no one else had learned of the incident on the shore which was something that she wanted to keep silent. But Eddard Stark's role in it had been almost giving her an uncontrollable twitch all day.

She hadn't seen him since that morning and she found herself both disappointed and relieved by it.

Laena had never met someone that was so difficult to read before and the fact that he was unlike anyone she had ever met at court was both confusing and refreshing to her.

She would blame the Nargles if she didn't know for a fact that they didn't exist and so far her confusion on the subject and the fact that he had once again baffled her with his actions this morning was turning to irritation.

I need to relax, she thought to herself as she and her mother stood outside the doors of the throne room waiting for them to open so they could enter. This day has been full of rather upsetting surprises. And right now is not the time to dwell on them. You have a room full of nobles to impress and a sister in law to entertain. You're still a Ravenclaw at heart, so use your logic and compartmentalize.

She had no sooner thought this through when the doors to the throne room opened and following her mother's lead, Laena took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and strode into the room purpose in every step.

Ω

 _It still amazes me how distracting a room full of people can be for ones own anxious thoughts. It almost seems as if my own mind will go on autopilot to entertain what is happening in front of me and all other confusing thoughts will be pushed into the background. It's actually a relief._

As soon as she had walked in with her mother, Laena could feel a great many eyes on her. This had never really bothered her before because she was used to being the subject of odd looks in her first life and the brunt of rather leering gazes in her second.

This time though, she felt the weight of them and longed to be anywhere but the throne room of the keep.

Instead however she had milled among the nobles, trying to ignore their wandering eyes and lingering brushes of their lips on her hand and simply focus on being the dutiful princess.

Sometimes it was hard to imagine how much things were different now as to when she had simply been a Ravenclaw witch. Luna Lovegood hadn't cared one whit about what anyone thought of her and in many ways, Laena was the same. This time however, it actually mattered what people thought of her and it wouldn't just reflect badly on her but on her whole family as well. And their safety, even superficially wasn't something she was going to brush off.

So that was why she had accepted Lord Mace's request and was now in his arms on the dance floor. Laena tried to pay attention to what he was telling her but it was literally taking all of her mental faculties to concentrate. The man was a bag of hot air and she could only thank the Seven and Phil that she had been spared the burden of being his wife.

 _I must remember to pray for Alerie Hightower,_ she thought wryly. _Being the wife of this oaf cannot be easy._

Fortunately, Laena poured her attention into remembering the dance steps instead of what he was saying. It wouldn't be worth it to remember when morning came anyways.

He had been saying something about his wife and how they were expecting their first child and how he was sure it would be a boy when a hand landed on his arm as the song drew to a close.

This gesture prompted the both of them to look up and Laena bit the inside of her mouth when she saw Lord Eddard's calm grey eyes looking down on her with an unfathomable expression on his handsome face.

"May I cut in Lord Tyrell?" He asked quietly and the heir to Highgarden immediately stepped aside after kissing Laena's hand.

Without missing a beat, Eddard offered her his hand which she hesitantly accepted and drew her into his arms as the music for the next song began.

He was a good deal taller than Mace had been which made dancing with him far easier however far more difficult to concentrate.

She had been trying not to think about him since the incident and yet here he was asking her to dance with him.

Laena was entirely too conscious of his hands touching the bare skin of her waist and wanted to curse her mother for selecting this dress for her. She knew she would be getting a good deal more attention tonight than she had before but she honestly hadn't expected Lord Stark's attentions to be part of it.

She took a deep breath, reminded herself that she was a dragon and forced herself to look up into his eyes. They were already looking down at her and appeared to have not looked away since the music began.

"May I request the reason for this impromptu dance request my lord?" She asked quietly and was a little surprised to see him raise an eyebrow.

"Courtesy, your grace," he said quietly and this time she mirrored his expression as she looked up at him. "I had not known that the Starks were so courteous."

When she looked up again at him she was surprised to see that he almost looked amused. "Then perhaps you should come north your grace, the courtesies of the Northmen are second to none."

 _Is he teasing me? I didn't think the rather grim Eddard Stark capable of it._

She smiled up at him and was further surprised when he returned it. "Well if that is the case than perhaps I shall."

They were silent for a moment as the music continued and they proceeded to sway back and forth in time to it. Laena was painfully aware of his hands on the bare skin of her waist and every time his fingers moved slightly they left goose bumps in their wake. Laena fought off a grimace and prayed that her physical reaction to his touch was not showing on her face. Her skin was fair enough that any blush was noticeable and she could imagine anything more embarrassing.

Unfortunately for her, this particular dance was one which required the partners to look into each other's eyes a good portion of the time. Some might think it was romantic but in an awkward situation, it was anything but.

Laena took a deep breath and kept her violet eyes trained on his grey ones, cursing the fact that he seemed to be having no trouble meeting her gaze.

"I don't think I ever said thank you for what you did this morning," she said quietly enough that she knew only he would be able to hear her. "If you hadn't happened to have been walking by I don't know what might have happened."

He nodded slowly. "Everything happened so fast I am afraid I don't recall much of it. In one instant I had seized ahold of the prince and in the next, I was standing on the shore."

So he didn't know what she had done but it appeared that he was trying to figure it out. The cold water and the adrenaline hadn't shocked him enough to remove his sense of reality. Laena had a feeling Eddard was extremely perceptive when he wanted to be.

"You swam fast my lord," she replied easily. "I didn't know you had such experience swimming at all in the north."

"I have never swam in an ocean before but there are many hot springs near Winterfell that my siblings and I frequented when we were children. As a result we all learned to swim quite well."

She heard a hint of nostalgia on his tone and herself remembered what it was like when she would long for Ottery Catchpole as school had drawn to a close. Now that she was Laena Targaryen, the capital didn't feel very much like home and now she would long for a place that she would be comfortable in.

"You have three siblings do you not?" She asked changing the subject and he nodded. "There is my older brother who I am sure you have met already and then my younger sister Lyanna and my brother Benjen."

He spoke of them with a hint of fondness and that Laena could certainly empathize with. She loved all six of her brothers fiercely and would miss them terribly if she was away from them.

"What is Winterfell like?" She asked curiously and was surprised at the soft look that entered Eddard's eyes.

"Perhaps I am biased because it is my home, but I truly believe there is no place like it," he said and she smiled as she watched him describe his home.

Laena had always loved forests in her first life and in her second and she was most happiest when she was surrounded by trees and small streams and dense woods. The way Eddard described his home in the softest and simplest of terms made her think of a simpler time when she was able to spend all day among the trees. She would lean her head back against the great trunks of those mighty oaks near Hogwarts and just listen to the sound of absolutely nothing. Every so often a bird would chirp or she would hear the distant chatter of a squirrel but other than that the forests were the most peaceful places she had ever been in.

"It sounds lovely," she said softly when he had finished his description. "I believe I would have loved to have seen it."

The look on Eddard's handsome face was unfathomable and she could feel his grey eyes searching over every inch of her face face, the look his gaze almost surprisingly gentle.

"Perhaps someday you shall my lady," he said just as quietly and she smiled at him again. "Nothing would make me happier."

As the music continued, they proceeded to converse quietly completely unaware that they were being observed from across the room.

Rhaella Targaryen was a very perceptive individual and she had observed Lord Rickard's second son come up to her daughter and take her in his arms as the music continued. She had also looked around and seen the rather irritated looks in the eyes of many of the nobles as Laena hadn't seemed inclined to dance with anyone else all evening but Lord Stark.

She saw her daughter smile hesitantly at the tall wolf and cocked her head to one side in quiet speculation.

"She seems rather taken with him doesn't she?" A calm voice asked and the queen smiled as she turned to see her eldest son at her side.

"I'm not sure," she said turning to observe the pair again. "They make a stunning couple but your sister had always been rather guarded. You and I are the only ones she lets close. But perhaps time will allow for someone else to come close to her as well."

Rhaegar hummed in agreement. "I would wish to see my sister happy, she and you have spent so much time taking care of all of us that she deserves some happiness of her own."

"Time will tell if Lord Eddard will be able to provide that happiness my son," Rhaella said quietly, her thoughts whirling. "Only time will tell."

Ω


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The following day, the tourney that was meant to celebrate the engagement of Prince Rhaegar and Princess Elia was set to begin and for once Laena was glad for it.

Tourneys were a wonderful distraction from the pressures of everyday life at court as well as the ever encroaching madness of the king. So far Laena and Rhaella had done an adequate job of smoothing over any hurt feelings or searching looks that the king had received and allowed everyone to focus on this time of celebration.

Elia seemed charmed by Rhaegar but though he was being a dutiful prince, Laena could tell that there was something wrong with her brother. He was usually a rather chipper individual and had often berated _her_ for being too serious but over the course of the last few weeks, he had grown very quiet and sober.

 _I wonder what's wrong with him,_ the dragon princess mused as she readied herself for the day. _He's never this quiet and my brothers are beginning to take notice. I hope his mood improves or others might begin to notice as well._

The last thing the Targaryens could afford was people questioning this union. Despite the ever encroaching madness of the king, having the power of the Targaryen family questioned was something that the royal court couldn't afford.

And that meant that Laena would have to double her efforts at being a diplomat.

As she rose and dressed that morning, readying herself for the tourney where she would be sitting with her mother and brothers to cheer on all of the competitors.

A part of her hoped her brother would win and name Princess Elia his queen of love and beauty as she knew that would please the Dornish woman a good deal and make her more comfortable at court, but he wasn't competing in this particular tourney as there would be a few small ones throughout the course of the nuptial period.

Another part of her wondered whether or not Lord Eddard would be participating in the tourney.

Laena knew tourneys weren't really an integral part of life in the north so it would be unlikely, however she knew that the second Stark was being fostered in the Vale with Jon Arryn and the heir to the Storm Lands, Robert Baratheon. If Baratheon was going to compete, she was sure that Stark would as well.

Laena now wanted to curse herself for how much attention she had paid him last night and knew she shouldn't have done that. The last thing she wanted to be known for was court gossip and she had a feeling that nothing would make Lord Eddard more uncomfortable than to be the subject of rumors.

 _I need to be more careful,_ she thought to herself as she dressed. _The last thing I need to show is favoritism when we are at a politically delicate time. Gods sometimes I really do hate politics. As soon as this wedding is over and we can all get on with our normal lives, I will be that much happier._

Rhaella seemed to be feeling the strain of keeping up a façade as well and Laena worried for her mother. She took too much on her shoulders at times when it came to the running of the court and caring for all of her children. That was why Laena had been so eager to take the burden of taking care of her younger brothers off of her mother's shoulders at such an early age. She had wanted to help Rhaella in any way she could and ensure that she was not the object of her father's wrath ever again.

The birth of seven healthy children had helped with that and Laena knew for a fact that her father had not frequented her mother's bed since the birth of Baelor four years earlier which was a relief in and of itself.

She also knew why.

The king believed that the gods were blessing their family and that seven children, one for each god was the practical demonstration of this and so he didn't wish to risk birthing another child and it not being true.

Proving the king's delusions wrong was a dangerous thing. It was far better to let him live in his own reality than to correct him.

The consequences of waking a sleepwalker like that would be catastrophic. They could only hope that the festivities and the wedding following would go off without a hitch and that soon Aerys Targaryen would do the realm the only favor he would ever do it and die quickly and quietly.

But when had luck ever been on their side?

There was a knock on the door as Laena finished dressing herself and she turned towards it slightly. "Come!"

To her surprise the door opened to reveal her twin, standing there dressed in all of his finery.

"Rhaegar!" she said with a smile. "I didn't think that there was very much chance that I would see you today."

Her brother strode over and kissed her on the cheek. "Sweet sister, you look beautiful. The nobles are court will all be vying for your favor today."

Laena rolled her eyes. Her brother had always been more of the sensitive artist type of the two of them. She was whimsical enough just like her other blonde counterpart but there were times when she did prefer cold hard realism other than flights of fancy.

"There is something I would speak with you about," he said and she frowned.

"What is it?"

"It came to mother's attention last night that your focus seemed to be occupied primarily with one man," her brother said carefully.

Laena glanced down at her feet, cursing herself for letting herself get carried away the night before. She had taken a risk spending as much time with Eddard as she had and if her brother and mother had noticed it, than it was possible that a good deal of other nobles had as well.

She flinched. Had her father noticed it?

Rhaegar saw the expression on her face and knew what she was thinking right away. "I say this not to chastise you, but to warn you. Father didn't notice a thing last night, he was too preoccupied with me. But you need to be careful sweet sister. If he thinks someone has secured your affections, I am not certain of what he will do. Lord Eddard is a decent man and I am in his debt for what he did to save Baelor, but I know you do not want to let anyone get in the cross fire of our father's madness or fanciful imagination."

She nodded. "I know."

He sighed. "Good. Just please be careful."

And speaking of the imagination, she was sure that she saw a rather tense look on Rhaegar's face.

She turned around frowning. "Is everything alright brother? You appear tense."

He laughed lightly and ran a hand through his hair. "Have I become that easy to read sister? I suppose that is something I will have to rectify."

Laena raised an eyebrow. "Rhaegar, I am your twin. It would be odd if I didn't know you as well as I do. Now what is wrong?"

"Nothing per se," he said. "Yet I can't shake the feeling that something is terribly wrong here."

Laena frowned. "I am afraid I don't understand."

"No," he said. "But I'm not entirely sure I understand it myself. I have been having odd…..dreams lately."

This time he had her full attention and she turned around from the mirror to face him. "Really? What sort of dreams?"

He sighed. "I do not wish to trouble you sweet sister."

"Nonsense, when it comes to serious matters is it of no trouble at all. Now tell me what is on your mind."

Laena knew the importance of dreams and what they meant, at least in her first life. She didn't know if there were ominous connotations connected to dreams here, however it wasn't something she was going to easily dismiss.

Rhaegar looked as if he were hesitating but finally he seemed to sag and sat down on the edge of his sister's bed.

"In the dream," he began. "I am looking at a field of ice and the snow is flying all around, the wind is howling and it is bitterly cold. I look to my left and then to my right but there is nothing around for miles. Finally when I turn back again, I see a crowd of figures coming towards me out of the wind. I squint when I see them but as they come out of the fog, I can feel terror strike through my heart. I blink and then all of a sudden there is a face inches from mine. It is a terrible face chiselled entirely from ice and with eyes so blue they were almost electric. There is a crown on this being's head but it appears as if it is made from horns that are protruding from his skull. His opens his mouth and unleashes a terrifying cry…and then I am awake."

He looked up at Laena, his face pale and he was trembling. "Sister what does it all mean?"

Laena was glad she had managed to keep a straight face throughout his entire description, but inside she was trembling.

Phil's words, right before he had swung his scythe at her and sent her hurtling into Rhaella's arms as a newborn came back to her in an instant.

 _A parting gift…..you're going to need it._

She glanced down at her hands which were suddenly tingling as if sparks were emitting from them.

She looked back up her brother who was searching her violet eyes for some sort of reassurance.

"It was just a dream," Laena whispered. "Only a dream."

But she had a feeling neither of them believed it.

Ω

Rhaegar's dream troubled Laena all throughout the rest of the day, she found it difficult to focus even during the tourney. Tourneys were one of the few things that she had liked about this new world and even that was taken from her this day.

She would be the biggest fool in the world if she said that her brother's dream didn't speak about the return of the Others. There were many people in this kingdom however who didn't think that such legends as the Long Night had existed. Her father's former Hand Tywin Lannister had been one of them and the one of the few areas where she thought the man foolish.

Laena herself was a magical being and she knew for a fact that there was a good deal more sorcery and mysticism in this world than perhaps even the one she had come from.

And her brother's dream was only the beginning of it.

Laena was no seer, but when she had been Luna she had often had dreams or flashes of things that had not happened, possibilities that had yet to be seen.

Since she had come to Westeros however, all of her dreams had ceased. Now it seemed her brother was the one with the prophetic gifts.

As she sat in the stands on the tourney grounds, with her family, her eyes absently scanning the melee, Laena knew she wasn't going to be paying attention to anything but that dream today.

Well at least that was until she saw a familiar shock of dark brown hair among the knights in the tent of those waiting to join the joust.

 _I didn't know Lord Eddard would be participating today,_ she thought to herself, suddenly feeling tense. _If I believed in the gods and not the Nargles I would pray that they would be with him._

Just then Rhaella noticed the object of her daughter's attention and frowned. "I did not know that Lord Rickard's second son would be joining the melee," she mused although she was trying gauge Laena's reaction. "Do you suppose he'll win?"

"If the gods are good mother," Laena said calmly but didn't meet the queen's eye. "Let us pray that they are with all of the competitors and that no one is injured."

Rhaella hummed but said no more. Her daughter had seemed quite taken with the young lord the night before. But then sometimes Laena was so guarded even she didn't know how to read her.

The queen spared a glance at her husband who was sitting close to her on the tourney grounds on the throne that had been brought out with a bored expression on his face.

She sighed, he was a mad man but she would rather him bored than sadistic. While her life with him had been by no means a good one, he had given her all seven of her beautiful children and she wouldn't trade them for the world. She may have hated Aerys but that was the one aspect of him that she wouldn't change.

And speaking of the rest of the Targaryen children, they were all sitting between Laena and Rhaella with excited expressions on their faces. Viserys was trying to appear serious and diplomatic about the whole thing but Laena could see the excitement sparkling in his violet eyes. The triplets, Daeron, Aemon and Vhagar made no such attempts at keeping their zeal contained. Even though their oldest brother was not participating in this tourney though he would in the ones to come, they were fidgeting in their seats, waiting for the event to start. Little Baelor however was bouncing about in his seat with excitement.

Laena smiled at the innocent four year old who was full to bursting with energy and made a silent promise to herself that she would continue to protect him. Baelor had an active imagination and had many big dreams for when he was older.

 _I wish to ensure you get all of your heart's desires little brother. You deserve to believe that the world is a bright and beautiful place for as long as you can. Time will prove you wrong, but I hope for now you can simply be happy._

There was a sudden roar from the crowd as the king gave the signal for the tourney to begin and Laena turned her attention forward.

The pounding of the horses hooves suddenly drew her attention as the knights were given their lances and thundered towards each other down the stretch, each hoping to knock the other off of their mount.

The jousts made Laena increasingly nervous as there was always the potential for serious injury and even death. She had seen Rhaegar compete in more tournaments than she could count but whenever she saw her twin on a horse thundering towards another man whether it was Ser Arthur or not, she always tensed.

Laena always felt her magic sizzling in her veins as well whenever one of her brothers came close to being harmed. It didn't matter that it was a sporting event, whenever she saw a pointed end coming toward any member of her family, she unconsciously prepared herself for battle.

Thankfully however, this time her brother was not competing in this tournament. He was sitting closer to the king with Princess Elia at his right side, farther from Aerys who was watching the events with gleaming violet eyes.

"Look sister, they're fighting again!" Baelor cried.

Laena smiled fondly at her little brother who had gotten out of his seat and was jumping up and down in excitement. His violet eyes were as wide as dinner plates, causing her own smile to widen.

This was his first time seeing a tournament as he was only four years old and he had been beyond excited when Rhaegar had hoisted him in his arms earlier and told him that he was to attend the event with the rest of their family.

Baelor loved stories, especially the ones about brave knights and battlefield glory and watching him as his eyes were glued to the knights and the horses had Laena convinced that her youngest brother was going to grow up to be a knight.

There was such a light in his eyes as he watched them that she was certain he would be happiest riding in battles and fighting alongside his other brothers.

And speaking of her other brothers, Daeron, Aemon and Vhagar seemed to be hard pressed to contain their own excitement as well.

There were to be several tourneys commissioned to celebrate prince Rhaegar's marriage to Princess Elia and the winner's purse would become gradually more and more coveted the longer the tourneys carried on.

Laena spared a glance at Ser Jaime who was standing near her brother. He was one of the few Lannisters that she trusted oddly enough and when her father had assigned him to keep an eye on her at times when he wasn't with him, she had been pleased.

Jaime was brash and bold but in many ways he reminded her a good deal of an older version of Baelor. He had dreams of battlefield glory as well as honor just like the littlest dragon did and despite his wildly sarcastic manner, Laena knew she would trust him with her life.

Not that it was likely to ever come down to that.

Her magic would protect her from any danger and it wasn't that necessary for her to have her own personal guard.

But despite her magic, she knew Rhaella would insist.

Laena glanced up at the sun from its position as it shone down on the tourney field and noted its glaring off the bright armor the knights were wearing.

 _I wonder how it is they can see where to level the lance if the sun is preventing them from seeing clearly,_ she wondered absently. _If it was me, I would just throw it at my opponent and have done with it._

Well, not really but there were times when jousts made no sense to her.

Quidditch from her first life was far more fun and Laena remembered Roger Davies telling her quite a few times that she would be an excellent chaser as she had been so small. She would be able to go much faster on the broom than any of the other players and streamline herself into the best positions.

Thinking about Quidditch reminded her of Harry and the work he had done on the Gryffindor team as their Seeker.

Thinking about the boy who lived brought a fond smile to her lips. He had been her first crush and it was only after the Gryffindor team had won the House Cup in her second year as she was a year younger than Harry that she had realized she had liked him.

It wasn't just about the championship that had made the former Ravenclaw like him however. It was the fact that Harry was absolutely fearless. Yes he was bold and brash and didn't think a lot before he dived into a course of action, but he was full of honor and had an insatiable desire to do what was right no matter the cost.

That was why she had liked him.|

Thankfully Luna Lovegood had had a very good poker face and so no one had ever known, not even her best friend Ginny Weasley.

And that was a good thing because Ginny had confessed to Luna more than once that she had feelings for Harry. Ginny had been Luna's first friend, the only one who had stuck up for her on the train to Hogwarts in their first year and Luna knew that Ginny could never find out about her feelings for Harry. Her friendship with the red head had meant more to her than a crush and she would just as soon take a few hurt feelings over losing Ginny's friendship. So yes it had hurt when she had seen Harry and Ginny together, but

Luna was able to turn away because Ginny had mattered to her more. And she didn't regret letting go of the idea of Harry even though it had hurt. What hurt more however was the fact that knowing that both of them had died in the end and she was the only one she knew of that had come out of that battle.

And what hurt the most was knowing the life she had left behind she hadn't been able to get the most out of it that she deserved.

 _That hasn't happened this time,_ Laena thought to herself. _I don't intend to make the same mistakes. And now that there aren't any Nargles around to mess with my head, I_ _can see more clearly._

In the back of her mind, the best way to achieve happiness was to see to the happiness of her own family as the princess believed she wouldn't be happy without them.

She looked forward again and saw Baelor jumping up and down in the stands when the knights turned to go at each other for what she believed was the fourth time.

"Did you see that sister?" he exclaimed in excitement. "Did you see that? They almost hit each other!"

Laena smiled. "I know, but why don't you come and sit here so that you can see better?"

She saw the look of relief on her mother's face and gave Rhaella a knowing smile, sensing that the queen was worried that her son was going to tire himself out. After his near costly fall in the water the day before, Rhaella wanted to ensure he would receive any post stress from the incident or any unnecessary excitement.

Personally Laena knew her little brother would be fine, he had too much tenacity to not be.

Thankfully though he listened to her and sat down in her sister's lap. "Who do you think is going to win?"

Laena smiled down at her little brother. "I don't know. But whoever wins we will be sure to applaud loudly and give them their just due. Because they will have deserved it."

She was both surprised and amused when next to her Vhagar rolled his eyes. "You sound almost exactly like mother. Personally Laena who do you think is going to win? You can't sit on the fence for everything."

She smirked at her second youngest brother. "Very well then Vhagar. I think Ser Arthur will win."

The results of the tourney wouldn't be decided for another week or so as it was going to be a somewhat longer one than the rest, so there was still a lot of time for Laena to be wrong. But she had seen Ser Arthur joust and knew he wasn't known as the Sword of the Morning without cause. Because Rhaegar wasn't going to compete in the tourney until after his wedding, she had a feeling it would be Ser Arthur who would walk away with the victor's purse.

"I think so too," Daeron said eagerly. "Ser Arthur is the greatest sword in the Seven Kingdoms. He will win easily."

"If the both of you don't shut up, neither of us is going to see who is going to win," Aemon snapped.

Laena chuckled as her two brothers threw the third triplet dirty looks but otherwise ceased their conversation and settled down to watch the tournament.

All of a sudden she blinked.

The first joust had concluded with a victor named and as the two knights headed back into the tent to change their armor and meet with their squires, she saw a familiar man mount his horse, place his helm on his head and take the lance that the squire offered him.

The helm had a decorative wolf's head and the cloak he was wearing was in the grey and white colors of a Stark.

Laena stiffened. She had seen him preparing, but truthfully had forgotten about his joust as she had been so busy speaking with her brothers.

 _Gods, I hope he will be alright,_ she thought to herself, twisting her hands in her lap.

She took a look at the man he would be facing and pursed her lips, not really knowing what to think.

The Greyjoys had been sent for the wedding as well. Euron Greyjoy and his older brother Balon the heir to the Iron Islands had come for the wedding, though their father had stayed behind. It had been a surprise when Lord Quellon's two eldest sons had arrived for the event. Laena knew they had been invited but she hadn't actually thought that the reclusive Ironborn would make an appearance. In the past they had always stuck to their own lands as fiercely as barnacles to the side of a ship. It seemed that Lord Quellon's desires to forge ties with the mainland were more than just speculation.

She could see the golden armor and the kraken sigil on his cloak and wondered how formidable he would be against Lord Eddard.

Laena knew for a fact that tourneys weren't a common thing in the north and thus didn't expect that many of the north men who had come would be participating in them.

 _The Starks were once kings in the North at one time before Aegon Targaryen came along and forged the seven kingdoms into one using fire and blood. I would expect that they more than most in the north know the ins and outs of a tourney._

Still…it made her rather tense to watch the object of her interest prepare to ride against someone who she knew to be of a rather underhanded character.

In her first life, she had always believed the best about people, but now with the second life she had lived, Laena knew how to be skeptical about people. The Ironborn were known to be rather silver tongued. With one hand they would offer you friendship and with the next they would hide it behind their back with a dagger clenched in it waiting to stab you when you turned around.

 _I certainly hope Lord Eddard knows what he's doing,_ she thought to herself tensely. _I wouldn't put it past those Ironborn to have something rather shady up their sleeves._

Her eyes narrowed as she watched the two knights' thunder towards each other at high speeds.

"Who do you think will win this one sister?" Baelor asked excitedly.

"I am not sure little brother," Laena said as nonchalantly as she could manage. None of her brothers but Rhaegar had been witness to what happened the night before and there was no way she was going to tell them. Her feelings regarding the quiet wolf were confusing enough without adding more people to the mix to befuddle her.

She thought about Rhaegar's warning that morning and grimaced. She had been lucky her father wasn't paying attention to her at the time but she couldn't be too careful. Her father would take morbid interest in anyone who had secured her attentions and that was the last thing that Laena wanted.

"Lord Eddard seems to be very steady with his lance," Aemon observed. Laena looked at her little brother proudly. He was only eight years of age and had such an eye for detail that it sometimes amazed her. Of the triplets he was the scholar amongst them. While Daeron and Vhagar had a passion for the arts of war, Aemon was the happiest when he was amongst his books.

He reminded her a great deal of his namesake who was currently at the Wall, serving as a maester for the Night's Watch. He was getting on in years but her father had always kept an eye on the Wall, fearing that one day that particular family member might get it into his head to try and take the throne from him. He had been offered it once and though he had refused it, Aerys had gotten it into his head that he might be usurped.

It was all nonsense of course, but then most of what went on in Aerys Targaryen's head was nonsense anyway.

She could see Aemon becoming a maester although she had a feeling that their father wouldn't allow it.

He had a dream to see the Targaryen line continue and now that he had six sons, Aerys meant to see them all married and carrying on their legacy after the tragedy of Summerhall, something that had happened just before Rhaegar and Laena were born.

 _Aemon will have his dream,_ Laena thought fiercely. _I will see to it myself if I have to._

There was a roar from the crowd and she jerked back to the contest that was taking place to see that Lord Eddard had scored a hit and had succeeded in knocking Euron Greyjoy from his mount.

Laena breathed an internal sigh of relief but otherwise gave no other expression because the moment Lord Eddard was victorious, she could feel her mother's eyes on her face.

Instead, the princess kept her eyes glued to Lord Eddard as he rode back to the tent, handed the reins of his horse to a squire and his lance to another.

Only when he disappeared into the tent did Laena turned her attention back to the tourney that was taking place.

Her heart had been pounding a mile a minute and she took several deep breaths to calm the adrenaline that was sizzling in her veins.

 _Perhaps I should remember to make myself a calming draught before I come to one of these tourneys,_ she thought wryly to herself. _The last thing I need is to become so nervous that I pass out in the stands. I'm sure my father would have a lot to say about that._

Ω

After the first round of the melee was over for the day, Laena decided she would much rather spend the rest of her day alone as opposed to seeing to the wellbeing of Princess Elia. She knew it was selfish of her, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

A walk was just what she needed to calm her frazzled nerves and she intended to take one.

Her mother was feeling fatigued after the events of the day and had gone to her chambers to rest. Her brother was with the princess and Viserys was entertaining the triplets.

For a moment, Laena wondered where Baelor was before she remembered he was probably with his nurse.

Which meant that she had a few hours to herself before she had to return to her chambers to ready herself for the feast that was soon to come.

The wedding itself was in a fortnight which meant that the feasts were only going to become larger and more elaborate as time went on.

 _Seven hells, I am already tired just thinking about it,_ Laena thought as she walked calmly through the gardens. _I certainly hope the end result of this is my brother's happiness. He deserves to have some form of it after the insanity that has been the last decade and a half of life with our father.  
_

She was already exhausted when she thought of the next few years in the capital and her own marriage that would inevitably be coming.

Laena was already glad beyond words that she had manipulated her father into choosing another match for her brother than her.

Incest was not something she planned to engage in.

And now she had the chance to find someone who could perhaps love her for her and not for political reasons or power.

Without warning, an image of Eddard's Stark's handsome face flashed in her mind as she wandered past the moonlight garden, deep in thought.

It was so startling that it caused Laena to nearly come screeching to a halt as she pondered the sheer absurdity of it all.

 _I need to have my head examined,_ she thought as she rubbed the side of her face wryly. _The man saved my brother and now I am entertaining ideas of marrying him. I wonder if perhaps there are some Nargles about that are messing with my thoughts.  
_

She chuckled to herself and continued her walk, amused at the direction her thoughts had taken.

And speaking of brothers she hadn't seen her youngest one all day and he was famous for getting away from his nurse. Lenna loved the little boy as if he were her own but

Baelor could be a handful at times and the only ones he listened to were her mother, Rhaegar and Laena herself.

 _I wonder where he's gone off to,_ she thought. _It's the middle of the day so he may have just gotten up from his nap and might be wandering around the keep driving poor Lenna crazy. I'm just glad she doesn't have any children of her own otherwise she would have left us long ago and I don't think we would have lasted this long without her._

Tucking her hands against the back of her dress and rubbing her thumbs up and down the space in her backless dress, Laena continued walking. She kept an ear out for her brother who liked to play in the gardens with his red rubber ball at times.

The gardens of the keep were enormous and so sometimes it would take them hours to find Baelor once he had gotten away from Lenna.

All of a sudden, she heard a loud peal of laughter from the bushes on the opposite side of the path.

There was only one person who could laugh like that and Laena immediately headed towards the source of the noise.

Even though her curiosity was growing, something prompted her to disillusion herself before she came to close to the sound as she wanted to see what was happening.

Calmly and carefully, she pushed her way through the bushes, taking care not to make any sounds.

When she came out on the other side of the path, the sight that greeted her was enough to make her eyes widen and her jaw slacken in surprise.

There sitting on the bench in the middle of the path swinging his legs back and forth was her little brother Baelor himself. He was smiling hugely and clapping his hands together at the sight that was in front of him.

A sight that also prompted her to pause.

If Laena had expected to see anyone with her brother, Lord Eddard Stark was certainly not on the list.

But there he was, standing on the bath several feet from his brother.

Laena watched him in confusion for a moment before Baelor spoke up again, causing her to pay attention to his words.

"Again! Again!" he cried, clapping his hands together.

Eddard straightened up and smiled rather fondly at the prince. "But I just showed it to you your grace. That is the proper way to stand when you're learning how to fight with a sword. Surely your brothers have taught you this already."

Baelor pouted. "Mother won't let me watch them. She says I'm too young and I can learn to fight with a sword later. But it's not fair."

Eddard surprised her by chuckling deep in his throat, a sound which surprised Laena. She had spoken to him a few times since he had come to the capital with his older brother and one of the first things she had noticed about him was how deep his voice was.

He was only slightly older than she was, but his voice was low and melodious, perfect for storytelling and hearing him laugh now was like music to her ears.

"Soon enough you will be at the age when you can practice with them your grace," Eddard said. "I felt that way when my brother was learning to use a sword and all I could do was watch him and wait until it was my turn."

Baelor still looked a little unhappy. "But that will take forever. Rhaegar's already so good with a sword. I want to be just like him."

"But that takes time your grace," Eddard said to him and Laena smiled watching the second oldest Stark with her brother. "You cannot be as good as Prince Rhaegar right now. It takes a lot of time to be proficient with a sword."

 _I never noticed what an infinite amount of patience he has,_ she mused silently to herself. _That's going to aid him a good deal when he marries and has children of his own._

Baelor pouted. "But my mother doesn't even let me touch a sword! She says I'm liable to hurt myself. I won't!"

Eddard laughed again and Laena smiled at the sound. "Queen Rhaella is a very wise woman. She loves you a good deal if she doesn't want you to hurt yourself."

Baelor shook his head, still stubborn. "No, she just doesn't want me to have any fun. I never get to do anything in this keep. My sister lets me have fun."

Laena perked up at the mention of her name and leaned closer, glad she had disillusioned herself so she could hear this.

This conversation was very amusing.

"Does she?" Eddard asked and his tone went slightly quieter when he said it which Laena noticed right away and for some reason it made her heart beat a little faster. "What does she let you do?"

Baelor smiled. "Well she takes me to the shore where we can play with my ball. I love the water and we play in it sometimes."

He looked at Eddard curiously. "Do you swim in the north?"

Eddard smiled. "We do your grace, but in Winterfell we have what are called hot springs. They are great pools of water that are naturally heated so we keep warm even in the cold weather."

Baelor smiled. "That does sound like fun, but I think I like the ocean better. All the waves move you back and forth."

He looked up at Eddard again. "But I think of all my brothers and sister, Laena is the strongest swimmer."

 _I would have to be, I had to swim a lot in my first life,_ Laena thought to herself, feeling amused.

"Does she swim a lot with you your grace?" Eddard asked curiously.

"Oh all the time," Baelor said happily, but then his face turned sad. "But once she marries and leaves the keep…she won't be able to swim with me anymore."

"I'm sure that's not true your grace," Eddard replied.

"Yes it is," Baelor insisted. "She'll go far away from here and live with some greedy man and I won't ever see her again. And I know it too because all of the nobles who come to court are greedy. They all want Laena to be their lady wife because mother says she's the most beautiful Targaryen to walk the halls of the keep. I just want her to stay."

Eddard paused here and looked as if he were trying to discover how best to respond to the little prince.

Laena looked at her little brother with sympathy as she stood on the path watching them. _I don't have any intention of leaving you until you are ready little brother._

It seemed Eddard had finally decided to answer and he had settled on politeness. "Princess Laena is very beautiful. I am certain there are many nobles who would wish to marry her. But that doesn't mean she has to go far away. And even if she does, that doesn't mean she will not come back."

Baelor looked up at him. "How do you know?"

Eddard smiled fondly at the young prince. "Because family is something that doesn't change. I have no doubt that if you need her, the princess will ride back to the keep to see you, no matter what anyone says."

Laena smiled at the simplistic way the quiet wolf explained family to her brother. He wasn't wrong. There was nothing she wouldn't do, no distance she wouldn't go to for her brothers. If one of them was in trouble she would not hesitate to fly back to the keep to help them, husband be damned.

She chose that moment to release the spell on herself, making her visible once more

"Lord Eddard is right Baelor. You shouldn't worry so much. I will always be here whenever you need me."

It was rather amusing to watch the both of them jump at the sound of her voice. They hadn't been looking in her direction when she had released the spell so they hadn't seen how she had appeared out of nowhere.

Immediately Eddard got to his feet and bowed. "Your grace."

She smiled at him. "I hope my brother is not bothering you Lord Eddard."

"Not at all your grace."

Baelor hopped off the bench and ran to Laena before wrapping his short around her legs and grinning up at her. "Ned was teaching me how to sword fight!"

Laena knelt down in front of her brother and ruffled his hair affectionately. "Was he now? But I don't see a sword in his hand. How was he teaching you?"

Baelor got a sheepish expression on his face. "Well, he wasn't really teaching me. He was showing me how to stand when I learn to fight. Ned says that that is just as important as learning how to use a sword!"

Laena smiled up at Lord Rickard's second son who was observing her quietly. "Ned is it?"

"It seemed easier for Prince Baelor to pronounce that than Eddard, your grace," the forenamed Ned explained. "Eddard can be somewhat hard to pronounce correctly."

He wasn't smiling but there was a subtle twinkle in his stormy grey eyes that made Laena smile. "Indeed."

She glanced down at her brother. "I thought you were supposed to be with Lenna and about to take your nap?"

Baelor looked down at his feet. "I hate naps! And I'm not tired, so why do I have to sleep?"

"Mother doesn't want you to have any after effects or a chill from when you were in the water yesterday."

Baelor put his small hands on his hips. "But I'm fine! It wasn't even that cold. And Ned saved me before I was in there too long."

Laena smiled before looking up at Eddard who was listening to the conversation calmly. But the amusement was plain to see on his face. She had wondered if he had ever smiled so much as when she had come to the capital.

"He did," she said, still looking at the man in question. "And did you thank him for saving you?"

Baelor nodded. "I did."

"Good. Than perhaps we should be getting you back to the keep, mother and Lenna will be worried."

Baelor pouted. "Please Laena can I stay up? I'm not tired at all and Ned was showing me how to stand properly!"

Her little brother looked so put out that the princess couldn't help but feel her heart soften slightly towards him.

"Very well," she said and he let out a whoop of laughter. "But you are going to bed early tonight. If you don't sleep now, it is very likely you will be tired later."

Baelor looked a little disappointed with that but he decided to take what he could get. "Alright."

Laena got to her feet. "Good."

All of a sudden Baelor got a smile on his face like he had just had a magnificent idea. "We can play with my ball. And Ned can play with us too. We can show him how to play catch like we do Laena."

The princess barely controlled her blush and glanced at Eddard through her lashes, noting that he was watching her carefully. "Suppose Lord Eddard has things to do Baelor?"

Her little brother turned to quiet wolf. "Do you?"

Eddard chuckled and ran a hand through his hair wryly. "As a matter of fact your grace, I don't."

Baelor nodded sharply. "Good. Than you can play. I left my ball right over here in the bushes. I will go and get it."

With that, he ran off in search of his red ball, leaving both Eddard and Laena to look after him in amusement.

When they were alone, Laena turned to the second oldest Stark. "I apologise on behalf of my brother if he was bothering you Lord Eddard. Baelor can be….intrusive at times."

To her surprise, Eddard laughed.

"He was no bother at all your grace. I believe his grace seems to have taken a bit of a liking to me since the events of yesterday. Prince Baelor is a…precocious child but something like that shouldn't be stunted or inhibited. It may serve him well later in life."

"Yes well, I'm more concerned about that nature getting him into trouble now," Laena muttered.

Eddard's stormy grey eyes were watching her calmly. "My sister is the same way though she is significantly older than Prince Baelor. But I would not change her."

Laena chuckled. "If that is so than why is your sister not here for the wedding my lord?"

Eddard gave her an odd half smile. "I'm afraid the atmosphere of the keep wouldn't suit Lyanna well. She is…well she is more of a free spirit."

Ah yes. Laena remembered a time when she had been like that as well. To a certain degree she still was, but now there was common sense as well and sometimes the both of them would tussle for control in her mind. She still liked to explore and wouldn't be confined to the rules of the keep though.

Laena still remembered the time she had escaped the keep for one afternoon not long ago and gone to the summer isles where she had simply relaxed on the beach and let the sun and the sand wash her troubles away.

It was one of the few times she had felt completely and utterly relaxed, like she hadn't a care in the world.

Of course her calm had shattered the moment she returned to the keep and her mask had come firmly back in place.

There were times when she did certainly long for adventure but with the restrictions placed on her now as a princess and the expectations of her family, there was only so much straining at the leash she could do.

But that didn't mean that she didn't rebel a little whenever she could.

"Your sister sounds like an interesting individual Eddard," she said and he gave her an odd look.

It was only then that she realized she had called him by his first name and her blush was furious as the gravity of the social blunder came upon her.

He didn't seem to mind though. In fact, a small smile pulled his lips upward when he heard it and he cocked his head to one side at her.

He appeared amused even though he wasn't smiling. His eyes had a strange way of expressing all of his emotions without the use of his mouth.

 _I do recall my mother in my first life telling me that the eyes are the windows to the soul,_ Laena mused thoughtfully. _I suppose that holds true for some individuals more so than others._

Fortunately she was saved from further embarrassment when Baelor suddenly returned with his ball. "I found it!"

Laena blinked. "Then come, let us waste no more time."

She was further surprised when her little brother took hold of Eddard's hand as opposed to hers and began to drag him along making the amused Stark chuckle.

 _I suppose Eddard had a point,_ she thought as she watched the two of them. _Baelor does seem to have taken a liking to him. This is interesting, it will bear watching to say the least._

She was also glad Baelor was with them. If any of the nobles saw her with Eddard, the presence of Baelor would stave off any rumors. After what her brother had told her that morning, it seemed that rumors were the last thing anyone wanted.

At that moment, Baelor turned around and called out to her. "Laena are you coming?"

She smiled at him. "Of course little brother. I wouldn't miss it."

Laena didn't know it yet…but this was the start of something rather special.

Ω

 **Sorry for the long wait between updates guys. I was having some writer's block on this story. But it's passed now so I hope you enjoy this chapter and don't forget to review!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Laena was strangely happy for the entire rest of the day.

Her little brother always had a way of bringing out the child in her and she hoped that that was something that never changed no matter how old he got. She hoped that Baelor's imagination would always run rampant and take him places far away from King's Landing where he would be happy and think of the world as a beautiful thing.

In essence she hoped the littlest dragon retained his innocence the way she had managed to when she was still Luna Lovegood.

The only good news was that here in Westeros there were no such things as Nargles and Wrackspurts so Baelor wouldn't have them to torment him like she did.

The nonexistence of those pests had been one of the best things about her new life and Laena relished the peace that their absence had brought her.

It made things a lot less confusing that way.

What did make things confusing however was the extreme liking her youngest brother had taken to Eddard Stark. He had told him all about the capital in its various forms while the three of them had played with his ball. He had wanted to know all about the north and which Eddard had acquiesced in his quiet deep voice that Laena was beginning to find rather soothing.

It had a very gentle quality to it that was perfect for lulling one to sleep and whenever Eddard was saying something to his brother, Laena found she would drift slightly closer to listen to whatever it was.

He somehow had a way of speaking and saying things that made even the most mundane of concepts sound interesting.

Every now and then he would look her way and when their eyes would meet, violet and stormy grey, Laena would surprisingly feel heat rushing to her cheeks.

Eddard had never brought it up and had always remained a respectful distance from her so their spending time together would not be seen as inappropriate for whoever might come across them.

Fortunately they hadn't run into anyone in the gardens as after the tourney people seemed keener to rest and prepare for the next feast that evening that was simply the next event in a never ending stream of activities before her brother's wedding.

Laena was a simple woman and so the idea of dressing up for party after party was exhausting to her and she only wanted to go up to her room and take a long bath before perhaps reading, enjoying a light dinner and then calling it a night.

She had done that a lot when she had been home for the holidays while she was still at Hogwarts and had always valued peace and quiet and family above all other things.

Even after her mother had died, she and her father had made regular time for each other with floo calls, letters and visits when it was appropriate.

Now Laena wouldn't even think of doing something so simple given where she was now and her other father.

But Aerys Targaryen would never be her father. Xenophilius would never be replaced even though Queen Rhaella had given Laena another mother figure in place of the one she had lost a long time ago.

But that didn't mean that she didn't love the family she now had with all of her heart.

Little Baelor was so endearing and he wanted to spend as much time with Eddard as possible, listening to the second son tell him all about the stories of the north as he himself had been told as a child.

It was plain to see the hero worship shining in her little brother's eyes and Laena wondered how Baelor would react when the wedding concluded and Eddard would return to the Vale where he was completing his fostering with Jon Arryn.

Baelor was a sweet boy but if his friendship with Eddard continued at the rate to which it was progressing, Laena knew the little prince would be sad when he left.

In the meantime however at the conclusion of her afternoon with Eddard and Baelor, Laena noted her little brother's drooping eyes and slowing gait and decided that it was high time she take him back to the keep for a rest.

It seemed Eddard was of the same mind for he begged off to return to his brother who would no doubt be looking for him by now.

Baelor looked disappointed but cheered up some when Eddard explained that he would be in the capital for the next few weeks for the wedding and they were sure to see each other again.

After this Laena had taken the hand of a sleepy Baelor and smiled at the northern man gently who after a moment returned the gesture, a curiously soft look entering his grey eyes.

"Thank you for the company lord Eddard," she said quietly.

"It was my pleasure your grace," he said just as calmly and Laena surprised herself by reaching out and giving his hand a squeeze before turning and walking swiftly back to the keep.

Her hand was tingling slightly from where it had touched his and she clenched and loosened her fist several times before the feeling went away.

Laena was perfectly aware of her brother's warning about how she needed to watch herself, not just around Lord Eddard but around her father as well and the whispers that would have been held at court.

If she was still the person she had been before she died, Laena would have thought damnation to the naysayers and simply continued doing things as she saw fit.

However in this world her actions didn't just affect her, but her family as well and Laena herself would be damned if any harm came to them through what she did.

It didn't mean that she had to stop spending more time with Eddard, it just meant she had to be more careful and perhaps employ the use of her magic when concealing the two of them from unfriendly eyes.

But in the meantime, she would smile and play the part of a dutiful princess serving her family and her brother as he entered into this next stage of life.

What else could she do after all?

When she had returned to the keep and handed a now fast asleep Baelor over to his nurse, Laena suddenly found herself accosted by a very excited voice.

"There you are!" her eight year old brother cried dashing towards her down the hallways. He had an armful of papers that were in a book tucked under his arm and an almost wild look in his violet eyes. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"And now you found me," Laena chuckled. "And you know you're not supposed to go yelling and shouting and running in the halls of the keep. Now what seems to be the matter?"

Aemon paused just long enough to roll his eyes at how much his sister sounded like his mother and shoved the papers he had been holding at her. "I was in the library when I found a book that had maps of the entire keep in it and discovered that there was a hidden room in the lower levels of the keep and – "

"And you went looking for it," Laena finished for him, pressing a hand to her forehead. "Aemon how many times have we told you not to go down into the lower levels of the keep? You don't know what sort of dangerous things might be down there."

Her brother let out his breath in a rush. "That's not important right now. What's important is what I found!"

Laena placed her hands on her hips. "And what pray did you find?"

Aemon shoved the book at her with the papers in it which she reluctantly took and scanned the peeling leather bound cover. It was a book as nearly as thick as her waist and the pages were yellowed from age. There was a smell of dust and decay clinging to its pages that made Laena cough and squint at the title.

Immediately the words leapt out at her.

 _An Account of the Long Night and the War for the Dawn_

Laena stiffened up immediately, memories of what her twin had told her earlier washing over her like cold water. _How on earth is this here? I would have thought that detailed accounts of the Long Night would be in the north where the First Men dwell._

"Laena?" Aemon asked. "What's wrong?"

The princess blinked before she remembered that her little brother was still standing there waiting for an answer.

"Aemon," she said slowly. "Did you find this is in that hidden room in the lower levels of the keep?"

He nodded. "Yes. It was beneath the Black Cells and no one really knows what's down there but I took a torch and managed alright."

Laena was torn between wanting to scream and being impressed at her brother's tenacity. She remembered Harry doing something similar when he had gone after Ginny in the Chamber of Secrets when she had been a first year.

 _My little brother is very much a Gryffindor at heart. It's rather too bad that they didn't have a house for Dragons at Hogwarts._

"I didn't stay for too long," Aemon said slowly. "But that room is full of books and this one was sitting on the table in the room. There weren't any windows in the room and it smelled very old like it had been sealed for hundreds of years."

"Then how did you get in?" Laena asked.

Aemon looked sheepish. "Well…it wasn't sealed when I got there?"

Laena pierced her brother with a look. "What do you mean?"

Aemon shuffled his feet, suddenly looking very uncomfortable. "The door….The door was open a crack when I got there. I had to push it several times so I could get in but it wasn't locked."

Laena closed her eyes and ran a hand through her platinum curls.

This was not good.

She could only think of one other individual in this keep who might know about that room and if he did know whatever reasons he had for going in there could not be good.

"And this book was sitting on the table when you got into the room?" she asked.

He nodded.

Laena cursed under her breath. If her father was interested in reading about the Long Night than that could only mean that he was having some sort of delusion of using dragons to fight them.

But dragons had gone extinct since the legendary dance over a hundred years ago so if this intruder into the room was her father, and he did plan to do such a thing where might he get dragon eggs from?

She realized she was probably overestimating things and that it was unlikely the door had ever been properly sealed, it might have been no one in the room at all.

But if the door hadn't been properly sealed and kept airtight, than the book should not have lasted this long.

She turned it over in her hands, noting its size and thickness and was suddenly possessed of a desire to read it and learn its secrets.

Perhaps it would shed some light on what her brother's dreams were about and whether or not they were prophetic or just simply dreams.

"Laena?" her brother asked her. "What's wrong? Your whole face went white for a moment."

The dragon princess attempted a smile at her brother. "Aemon would you do something for me? Do you think you can go and find Rhaegar? There's something I need to talk to our brother about."

Her brother looked at her curiously for a moment before he nodded reluctantly and hurried off down the hall of the keep.

Laena stared after him for a moment before casting her eyes back to the books and running her fingers over the letters in the title.

She had a horrible feeling she knew what was happening as there had been too many coincidences to ignore. She had the elemental power of fire, her brother was having prophetic dreams, her father was perhaps skulking about the keep looking about information on dragons and the Long Night and now her brother had found a thick book on that very thing.

Again, there were just too many strange things to ignore.

She remembered the bone chilling, chain rattling voice of the spectre the last time she had seen him when he had whispered to her his last words.

 _A parting gift….you may need it._

Tucking the book under her arm, Laena lifted her long skirt with the other hand and all but ran to her chambers before ducking inside and sighing in relief when she saw that they were empty.

Everything was exactly the way she had left it this morning except the curtains leading to her balcony had been pushed back so as to let in the afternoon light and breeze.

Taking the book in hand, Laena walked over to her desk before sitting down and placing the heavy tome in front of her.

She took a deep breath and felt her palms tingle as she contemplated opening the book and learning its secrets.

Part of her was dreading looking into it and the other part of her was a terrible certainty that she needed to do this research.

She was going to need it later.

And so summoning a deep breath, Laena reached for the thick cover of the book and pushed it open, watching as the dust cleared and rose up from the pages after many years of disuse.

 _If my father were looking at this, it was obviously a while ago. There wouldn't be so much dust on the pages otherwise._

Laena smoothed out the entry and carefully began to read.

To this day, she never forgot the words.

Ω

Thankfully Rhaegar arrived speedily so she was able to discuss the ins and outs of what she had discovered with him.

"Are you certain Laena?" he asked, his face as white as snow when she had told him what she had found out. "My dream was….of the long night?"

"I wish I were telling a mere jape brother but it appears that all of the facts are accurate," Laena replied grimly. "I wish we had more northern texts and manuscripts so there would be more information but we don't. Your dream seemed to be of the Long Night and whether it was just a dream or a premonition, we do not know."

Rhaegar's face turned ashy grey as he sat down on the bed and buried his face in his hands. "Gods this is not what we need right now. The last thing that is necessary is for me to turn into Denys the Dreamer and have premonitions of the future and my own death."

"I very much doubt that is going to happen," Laena said as soothingly as she could to her twin. She wanted to reassure her brother that the future was a slippery entity and that nothing was for certain but at the same time she was feeling a little worried.

Had Phil known what was going to happen when he sent her to this new world? Was that why he had given her the ability to call upon and influence fire?

He must have, there was no other explanation that made sense. Death and fate after all walked hand in hand.

 _Gods Phil what I would do to get my hands on your right now. You must have known that all of this was going to happen. There is not possible way that you could not have.  
_

Knowing that her brother was potentially dreaming of a future was a frightening thing and that it was a future in which ice monsters from beyond the edge of the world returned to animate the dead was even more so.

 _This cannot stand,_ she thought to herself. _I will not allow it to. This is our Westeros and I would see it destroyed before I would see it conquered by someone else._

Her thoughts surprised her, but at the same time if there was one thing she had inherited from her father, it was his ambition. Now that could be a good or bad thing depending on what she did with it.

Her father had often said that the Targaryens were kings over all of the beasts of the field and that they were made to rule. And a dragon did not lie with another beast of the field to produce another dragon. A dragon only laid with dragons.

Thus the centuries of incest.

But Laena had learned to take everything that came out of his insane mouth with a grain of salt. He was a man who liked to talk just to hear himself talk and have everybody else listen to him do it.

Thankfully it was all he had done thus far in terms of insanity since the idea of this marriage had been announced.

She blinked and returned her attention to the book she had been reading from. "All this manuscripts details is a history of the first men of the north and the war for the dawn that was waged between them and the others. And you've had a dream about it. What is the correlation?"

Rhaegar struggled for words and she could practically see his thoughts whirling about in his mind. She had always been able to read him better than others seeing as how they had shared a womb and when he had an idea she usually thought of it just before or just after.

"There is none," he said finally.

"Exactly," Laena said. "I don't want this to be cause for panic just yet. All you dreamed was that you were standing on an ice covered field staring down a hideous monster. Is that right?"

He nodded.

"Well then I say we minimize the alarm. You are about to be married and right now father is in a…delicate state. Bringing something like this to his attention would no doubt shatter his already fragile mind."

"You misunderstand me sweet sister," Rhaegar said. "I have no intention of telling this to father at all. Gods only know how he would react. But suppose we tell mother?"

"Tell her what?" Laena asked. "That you are having dreams of a battle that is thousands of years old? Not even a battle! That it is simply you standing on a field of ice while a strange monster leers at you? She would simply dismiss it as a nightmare and tell you to stop drinking so much wine at these feasts. She would not call it a premonition of things to come, you know this."

"Is that what you would call it?" he asked her.

She frowned down at the book in her lap. She wished there was a picture of one of those "Others" in here. It would be so much easier for future reference.

Of course those who might have once seem them had long since died and no sketches had ever been made as one would have to have a live one for that to be possible. The idea that someone would want to keep an other chained up in the bowels of their keep made her want to laugh and cringe at the same time.

"I don't know," she said. "I'm not our ancestor Denys the Dreamer. Father would say it has meaning but I trust anything father says about as much as I trust a roaring lion. Mother would say it is simply dreams and our other brothers are far too young to know what to think about something like this. But if you have these dreams again and there is more detail in them other than you simply staring at an other…well then tell me and we'll go to mother and see what she thinks."

Rhaegar still looked unsettled but nodded.

"Now enough of this," Laena said. "How is your time with Princess Elia going?"

"Well enough," Rhaegar said his face taking on a less dour expression. "But how does someone talk to someone they barely know?"

Laena chuckled. "You are the crown prince, you do it all the time. Star with something you have in common and then go from there."

He chuckled when he looked up at her. "You always have an answer for everything don't you?"

 _Well I am still a Ravenclaw at heart. We're supposed to have an answer for everything…we were the house of knowledge and rationale after all._

Instead she just smirked at him. "I try. After all how am I to remain unpredictable? Besides mother I am the only other female at court and it falls to me to be as clever as possible so vicious harpies like Cersei Lannister do not come along and try to take our place."

Rhaegar grimaced. "I truly think that rejecting Lord Tywin's proposal is the one good thing father has done that I can remember. If I had been forced to marry her I would have either strangled her or myself before two moons was out."

Laena chuckled. "I am just glad that we are not being forced to marry."

Rhaegar grimaced. "Yes there is that too. But Cersei Lannister causes the hair on the back of my neck to stand up. Thank the gods that Elia Martell has a sweeter disposition. I think I will be very happy with her."

Laena smiled. "Good. Than that is all that matters. Now enough of these dull topics. This is a time of celebration and celebrating and spending time with the rest of our vassals and we cannot do that here in this chamber can we?"

Rhaegar chuckled. "No we cannot."

He got to his feet and made to leave but suddenly stopped at the door and turned back to her. "And speaking of spending time with the rest of the realm sweet sister…there's something I need to ask you."

She suddenly had a feeling she knew what this was about. "Yes?"

"Ser Arthur was travelling through the gardens yesterday and happened to see you walking with Lord Eddard and Baelor."

She raised an eyebrow. "Yes? What of it?"

He looked at her carefully. "Do you think that that is wise?"

Laena sighed. "Rhaegar I did not go to the gardens for the purpose of seeking out Lord Eddard. It was simply by accident that I came upon them and it seems that Baelor has developed a sort of rapport with Lord Rickard's second son."

This seemed to interest him. "Really?"

Laena was amused. "Your youngest brother has taken a liking to the quiet wolf it seems. Lord Eddard is good with children."

"Indeed?"

"Aye," she said. "It was rather surprising to see. And surely no one would think anything is amiss if our brother is there to prevent it."

Rhaegar nodded. "I suppose not. All the same though…do be careful. I wouldn't want either you or Lord Eddard to suffer father's wrath."

She smirked at him. "Don't worry brother. If my time spent with Lord Eddard is ever brought to Father's attention well…there are ways for dealing with that."

He grimaced. "Yes…but I don't want you to use your magic unless you absolutely have to."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Trust me Rhaegar. If the time should ever come for me to use my magic on father…I will absolutely have to."

Ω

Over the course of the next few days, things fell into a certain pattern.

Laena would join her family in the tourney grounds over the course of the morning and then spend the rest of the day either with her mother or Elia or the other ladies of the court doing things that courtly ladies did.

In the afternoon she would either go for a walk and spend time with her brothers or simply go to the seaside and sit and watch the waves roll in.

But no matter what she did however, somehow she and Lord Eddard always ended up in the same place at the same time.

Laena wasn't sure if she should be amused or irritated.

Whatever the course of events in the keep was however, they always seemed to find themselves near each other with no one around.

Given the sheer amount of people in the keep that, was mind boggling to Laena who spoke to at least fifty people at any given day.

For a moment she wondered if Eddard had magic like she did, but then dismissed that as being ridiculous. If someone else from her old world had been reincarnated into this world with her, she was certain she would have known.

But at the same time, their encounters with each other were so frequent, Laena would be tempted to claim divine intervention even if she didn't believe in the gods but Phil.

She was also tempted to blame the Nargles but seeing as how there weren't any here anymore she couldn't do that.

But after four days had passed, four days that were full of tourney events and feasts in which Eddard seemed to get further and further in the jousts making Laena increasingly nervous as the opponents grew harder and harder in difficulty, she began to realize something.

Baelor seemed to be her own little Nargle in this area.

Because of the affinity he had developed with Eddard, he was almost always found in the wolf's company.

And seeing as how Laena was the keeper of her brothers almost all the time as her mother was dealing with her father and Rhaegar was busy with Elia, she constantly found little Baelor following after Eddard during some sort of excursion.

She had chastised the littlest dragon that she shouldn't bother Eddard so much but Baelor simply pouted and said that he wasn't bothering Ned and if he was than he would have told him so.

Finally she asked why he liked spending so much time with Eddard and his pout deepened and he said that it was because he was the only other person in the keep beside

Laena who didn't treat him like a baby.

Laena frowned and asked who treated him like a baby.

He responded by saying everyone because he had to take naps during the day when he wasn't tired and he wanted to learn to use a sword and though Ned wouldn't teach him yet he at least showed him how to stand before so he wouldn't be completely clueless when the time did come.

Finally Laena gave up.

As far as she was concerned, as long as Baelor didn't draw too much attention to himself by spending all of his time with Eddard well then she didn't see too much of a problem developing.

So far the near drowning incident had been kept between herself, Rhaegar, their mother, Elia Baelor and Eddard himself.

All of them had sworn not to say anything including Baelor who spent most of his time with the people mentioned previously anyway so there was not too much of a reason to worry.

The last thing that needed to happen was for Aerys to discover that his youngest son had nearly drowned and that he had been saved by one of the northern lords' sons.

She could only imagine the disaster that would be.

In the meantime however, she neglected what she really wanted to do in the next week which was avoid all of the feasts, stay in her room with a light dinner and then read before going to bed and put on a lavish dress so she could go down to the throne room and represent the Targaryen family as her father no doubt intended.

He seemed to be behaving himself lately which made her a little worried. He had barely said two words to Laena in weeks, something she was grateful for, but at the same time it made her wonder what was going on in that head of his.

Before the wedding guests had begun to arrive, he had been his rather insane self and now he had become rather quiet.

She could only wonder what he was thinking now.

Usually his scheming was worse than his madness as he would have had time to think about what to do.

 _That man needs to be dealt with and soon. I am only waiting for him to give me another excuse and I will put him down like the animal he is. Perhaps he wasn't mad once but at the same time he's long past his prime and if he is allowed to live any longer it will endanger the realm and no doubt cause a civil war. And when the time is right, after my brother is married and settled into his role as a husband and prince…I intend to do just that._

Ω

 **So Laena intends to kill her father when the time is right and Rhaegar is having more odd dreams. I realize this chapter was mostly filler but at the same time I've been experiencing a lot of writer's block with this story. In the next chapter, we see more interaction between Laena and Ned as well as Laena and Elia and then the royal wedding in which some interesting things will happen. Don't forget to review!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

All in all…the capital was surprising Ned Stark.

When his mentor and second father Jon Arryn had announced that he and Robert would be attending the wedding of the crown prince and staying in the capital for several weeks it had truly been the last thing that he wanted to do.

Robert had been beside himself simply for the fact that there would be cheap wine and women. There were times when he had to be on his best behaviour in the Vale and just diligence in making sure he did not cause trouble was causing the stag from the Stormlands to reaching exploding temperatures.

Ned chuckled to himself when he remembered all of the trouble Robert had gotten them into and had gotten them out of it at the same time with a winning smile and a quick distraction.

Many might wonder how it was that he and Robert were friends given that they were polar opposites, but something about their friendship just clicked and seeing as how they had been in the Vale for a few years now, Ned was certain he had found a friend and brother for life.

He on the other hand had not been looking forward to attending the royal wedding since his mentor had informed him that they would be attending.

Ned hated the south.

It was too hot, too loud, and too smelly and for the love of the old gods there were far too many people.

He despised politics and left such things as scheming and planning to his father who was quite good at the game those in power played.

There were often times where he thanked the gods of the north with every fibre of his being that he had been born the second son and would not have to inherit. His father would not put as much of an effort into finding a match for him and perhaps he would even be able to marry the woman of his choosing.

He loved Winterfell but lately he had heard from Benjen that the atmosphere there had become toxic.

Lyanna had been almost intolerable since she had learned that she was to be wedded to his friend Robert. She had always been headstrong and a free spirit but this time even the ever stoic and in control Lord Rickard Stark was having a hard time reining her in.

Sometimes Ned wondered if things would have been different if his own mother had lived long enough to see Lyanna become a grown woman. She surely wouldn't have been allowed to run wild about the ancestral keep, fight with a sword learn to ride a horse or a host of other things that were the more traditional pursuits of men.

But Lyanna chafed at the bit….she always had.

And now that her marriage had been chosen for her, she was straining at the ropes harder than ever. Her letters were filled with complaints and laments at her fate and while

Ned felt sorry for her, he couldn't help but feel a little biased towards Robert.

Sure his friend did have a few flaws that could do with some resolving, but didn't everyone after all?

Gods knew his brother Brandon had many and the ability to womanize was one of the things he and Robert had in common.

And speaking of Brandon, his brother was doing a thoroughly abysmal job of being attentive to his betrothed Lady Catelyn who seemed to be infatuated with him. What he had done however was flirt his way through all the noble women of the court and then spend a good deal of his time at the brothels in King's Landing to sate his appetites in a way he could not in the Red Keep.

It didn't help that Brandon possessed a charm that many women were receptive to and found hard to resist.

It would all add up to finding Brandon in the bed of someone where he wasn't supposed to be which would lead to a narrow escape out the nearest window or down the nearest set of stairs and a larger than life headache for Ned.

He loved his brother but there were times where he had been very glad that he had spent the last few years in the Vale where he wasn't responsible for anyone.

Well…no one at least but Robert.

Brandon had been proving to be as much of a handful as Lyanna at Winterfell and Ned was torn between feeling guilty that he wasn't there to help his father curb his siblings' attitudes towards everything wished them to do and relief that he wasn't there and thus not able to put in the effort.

It was all a mess and if something wasn't done and soon, the alliance with the Riverlands would blow up in their faces and thus bring shame upon the north.

And Ned knew that that his father would die before letting something like that happen.

Honor was everything in the north.

Perhaps that was simply because the north had roots to the First Men and were not defeated by the Andal invaders when they had come to Westeros centuries earlier. Their kingship only ended when Aegon Targaryen had come to Westeros and they had been forced to bend the knee.

They were a proud people and thus this concept of sticking together through the years had ingrained a hard won loyalty and stubbornness in the men of the north that would not be overturned by the politics of the south.

Lately however, Brandon seemed determined to undermine all the honor the Starks in Winterfell had managed to obtain over the last few years.

There only seemed to be one woman who was immune to his charisma and charm.

Princess Laena Targaryen.

Ned had been doing a lot of thinking about her lately.

This was not simply because he had developed a rapport with her younger brother the littlest Prince Baelor, but because she was one of the few people in this keep who was as ambiguous as they came.

Her expressions were always curiously blank, but it was a person's eyes that Ned looked at when trying to determine what sort of person they are.

He wasn't fooled by beauty…not really as such.

There was no disputing the fact that Laena Targaryen was the most stunning woman he had ever seen. She had the beauty of her ancestors and the looks of her mother magnified to a state of ten.

She also seemed to be in possession of her mother's disposition and caring nature. She had a patience that reminded Ned of his own mother in what memories he had of her.

Her brothers seemed to take notice of this disposition as well as she seemed to be the one they went to in times of trouble.

Her nature with Prince Baelor prompted Ned to remember Lyarra Stark's caring nature and cause a small sad smile to come to his face.

He didn't smile very often and there were few things that would cause that upward quirking in his lips but he found himself smiling a lot more lately and all of those smiles were prompted by one thing.

Princess Laena.

Ned had never met a woman who had the ability to facilitate such a reaction from him but perhaps that was simply because he had never been around many women before other than his sister and the female servants in Winterfell.

Oh of course there were the daughters of the vassals of their house who would sometimes come to Winterfell who had dealings with his father, but seeing as how Ned had been gone for so long he had not had as much exposure.

Such lack of exposure prompted him to be far more serious in his dealings with the opposite sex in the last few weeks.

Maybe that was why he had sought refuge in the godswood that night of the first feast celebrating the marriage of Prince Rhaegar and Elia Martell.

He just hadn't been expecting to see _her_ there.

Hearing Laena Targaryen's thoughts on why she spent a good deal of her time in the godswood had been interesting to listen to.

Seeing as how in many parts of the south, the Faith of the Seven was the primary religion he had been surprised to find that a Targaryen princess of all people found the religion of the north more calming than the one she had been raised with.

Her exquisite face had turned almost sad then when they had had that first conversation and for a moment he wanted to ask what was wrong before he had caught himself and bit his tongue.

She was…fascinating to say the least.

And perhaps he had gotten a bit carried away after that being one of the primary men she had danced with throughout the last week or so, but at the same time she was one of the more fascinating aspects of his time spent in the capital.

Perhaps it also had something to do with how he had saved the littlest prince from drowning and had established a connection with both the princess and said prince through the act.

One thing was still bothering him about that incident however.

He knew for a fact that he hadn't been hallucinating their apparent leap to the shore and that something beyond his imagination had happened.

The moment he had reached the prince and wrapped his arms around him, there had been a flash of light a tingling sensation and then he was standing somewhat unsteadily on the shore line soaking wet with a tired and weeping Baelor beside him.

It just didn't make sense.

But then of course the prince's older sister had thanked him with a kiss and Ned had been momentarily distracted.

He hadn't forgotten however and if there was one thing that the second son of Lord Rickard didn't like…it was a mystery.

And that was the only word that accurately described Laena Targaryen.

Perhaps that was why he had sought her out for that dance following the incident because he wanted more time to figure her out than what he had been given.

He had then managed to learn a little more when the littlest prince had stumbled upon him once more and had insisted that Ned stay with him until his sister had come to take him away.

Being amused by the precocious child, Ned had agreed and his acceptance to this bargain had allowed him to spend more time with the princess for which he had silently thanked the prince.

She seemed more open and honest when she was around her family and smiled a lot more as well.

She had a beautiful smile and one that brought a similar one to Ned's face.

He could tell right away that they weren't people to smile often but when they did, it was always genuine.

Her entire face would light up when she did so and it was like starlight. The light would go all the way to her violet eyes and the change was stunning.

Ned had found he rather enjoyed spending time with both her and her youngest brother as they provided a distraction from his life and his thoughts at the moment.

The keep was proving to be even more of a toxic place than he had feared it to be and the constant eye on the iron throne from all those nobles who had come for the wedding was almost nauseating.

He was hesitant to believe who was worse, the Tyrells or the Tullys, but even then he couldn't fairly judge them without judging those members of the small council and the members of the minor houses that had come as well.

Secrets were being shared and whispered conversations were being had in the dark corners of the keep, about the royal family about each other and about things that people had heard that had no basis in reality.

It all served to make Ned long for the Vale and the Eyrie.

The wedding festivities would carry on for another few weeks however as would the tourneys. Ned remembered he had still a long way to go in the tourney before the crown of flowers would be his.

He had been goaded into joining the tourney by his brother who had already been knocked from the roster of potential winners by one well-placed hit.

Ned however had succeeded in his bout with one of the Greyjoys and was still in the running to be victor.

In order to win however he would need to best Ser Arthur Dayne which was a tall order in and of itself seeing as how the man was one of the greatest knights in the Seven Kingdoms alongside of Ser Barristan.

Ned was under no qualms that he would win. He hated tourneys and had only agreed to participate in this one to quell his brother's goading. He had to admit that he felt some sense of pride however that he was still in the running for the flower crown and the victor's purse while his brother was resigned to watching him from the sidelines.

Bringing glory to the Stark name through a tourney however was not something he was entirely interested in. But now he was in it so he might as well finish.

"You're quieter than usual Ned," Brandon said.

Ned blinked and tuned back into his surroundings. He and his brother were walking through the streets of Kings Landing. They had both wanted some air from the keep as they were feeling cooped up and the city was enough of a distraction to explore for them both to be tempted.

Their temptations however were entirely different.

Ned simply wanted to stretch his legs while Brandon was looking for a fleshly distraction.

Sometimes Ned wondered if his father had simply written to Jon Arryn and asked for him to bring both of his charges along so that Ned could keep an eye on his brother.

"I am simply thinking," Ned replied and his brother smiled at him. "Gods is that all Jon Arryn teaches you to do in the Vale? It's all you've done since you got here."

"Not all," Ned muttered under his breath but it proved to be too quiet for Brandon to hear.

"There are far too many distractions here for you to waste time thinking Ned," the heir to Winterfell continued.

"You mean like Lady Catelyn Tully," Ned retorted and instantly his brother's face darkened.

"Do not speak to me of her. Why father could not choose a woman from our own people I do not understand. A woman like our sister would be a fine lady of Winterfell."

Ned barely restrained himself from rolling his eyes. "You would do a far better job of making yourself happy if you simply accepted this marriage and tried to get to know her better."

"Don't be a fool Ned," Brandon snapped. "Catelyn Tully is weak and foolish. Father only chose this woman because her father is a Lord Paramount. The only way I would curse this marriage more would be if he were to wed me to Cersei Lannister."

"Don't tell me you would find that preferable," Ned said. "Besides, from the whispers that have occurred around court she was set to be the next queen before King Aerys somehow changed his mind and selected Elia Martell instead."

"King Aerys is hardly a man of his word," Brandon snorted as they walked and Ned looked around carefully to make sure no one had heard him. "You could hardly expect him to keep his word to a man who had served as his Hand for twenty years."

"Lower your voice," Ned hissed. "Do you wish to be overheard and your head on a spike? This is Kings Landing and the king will have eyes and ears everywhere."

His brother gave him an incredulous look. "I didn't think it in you to be craven Ned."

"Forgive me, I forgot that common sense can sometimes masquerade as fear," his younger brother snapped. "You forget where we are. This is not Winterfell where we are the lords of the south. We are in a dragon's den with very little separating us from the fire. So in the name of the old gods hold you tongue or the king will have it removed!"

Brandon's eyes widened at him and Ned bristled slightly. He normally was never this passionate in his speech but Brandon's grousing had gotten on his nerves lately. It was high time he begin acting like the Lord of Winterfell instead of a second or third son who was free to do as he wished.

Brandon opened his mouth to reply but the words died in his throat and a charming smile replaced it when he looked down he street.

Ned was about to ask what caused his change in mood when his brother spoke up.

"Well well, it seems that the dragon princess has descended from on high to commune with the commoners."

Ned's head snapped up and sure enough, just down the street he could see the familiar silvery blonde head of princess Laena standing at the door of a certain house speaking to a woman on the stoop. She was dressed in a pale purple gown with an open back which was covered over by a sheer pale grey cloak that was bound to her wig ties wrapped about her upper and lower arms. She wore no jewelry and her long silvery curls were left long but she still appeared ethereal in the light.

There was a soft smile on her face as she spoke to the woman and they appeared familiar with each other as a moment later Laena put her hand on the woman's arm as they appeared to be laughing.

Standing nearby with one of the knights of the Kingsguard was one Ser Jaime Lannister. He was staring stoically ahead, not seeming to pay attention to anything around him but Ned had a feeling he would be ready to jump into action at a moment's notice.

But Lannister only held Ned's attention for a moment however as it was quickly drawn back to Princess Laena.

The gentle look on her face surprised him as he had only seen the same expression when she was with Prince Baelor.

He peered closer as they stood at the top of the street looking down it towards the princess and noticed when the twin of prince Rhaegar pulled a small cloth bag from the folds of her cloak and passed it to the woman, shifting her eyes to the right and to the left as if ensure that no one was watching.

The wind carried their words somewhat uphill and Ned frowned when the woman murmured the words: "may the gods bless you your grace."

He was even more confused when the princess responded by saying: "it is not the gods Mylene. It is simply one person helping another. I would rather the gods bless you than me."

What on earth was that about? Ned thought to himself but didn't have time to follow that train of thought further for his brother chose that moment to speak up.

"Well, well it would appear that the dragon princess has descended from on high to mingle with the commoners," Brandon said somewhat snidely and Ned turned to look at his older brother, eyebrows shooting to his hairline.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Brandon shrugged. "I merely mean that the persona that the princess gives off is one of aloofness and mystery. Who knows what happens in that head of hers?"

Ned was torn between irritation and confusion. "And how is that in anyway your business?"

Brandon frowned at him. "You sound testy Ned, are you well?"

Ned snorted and bit the inside of his mouth to keep inside all of the things he wanted to say to his older brother right now.

"Have you even spoken with the princess in order to make such assessments?" he asked finally and Brandon had the good grace to allow his smile to slip slightly.

"Once," he replied. "And she seemed rather cold and standoffish. Then again I suppose it was either that or complete insanity."

At that point, Ned's confusion faded to full on irritation.

"Well that would certainly explain it," he said shortly. "Seeing as how you have only spoken with her once, your lack of knowledge on her character makes sense."

Brandon raised an eyebrow at his brother as they remained watching the princess speak to the unknown woman. "And you have?"

Ned fell silent as he sought for some way to respond to that statement. If his brother knew how much time he had spent lately in the company of the princess, he would surely have a myriad of things to say.

Brandon turned to him then. "Well?"

"No," Ned said shortly, the lie burning his tongue as it passed his lips. "No I have not."

"Well then I fail to see how you know better than I," Brandon snorted.

Ned bit the inside of his mouth, longing for some way to prove his brother wrong without exposing the knowledge of how much time he himself had spent with the princess.

And then suddenly the situation changed.

Princess Laena seemed to be finished speaking with the woman and had just turned away in their direction when her eyes caught sight of them and Ned was astonished when her violet eyes lit up.

Her eyes however were only focused on him as opposed to his brother and Ned hoped against hope that his brother had not picked up on this.

She started towards them and Ned decided it did not matter what his brother would do upon seeing the familiarity between them.

The words he had spoken to Brandon about being careful about what he said and did in the capital came back to him in that moment however and he realized he was treading a fine line between danger and hypocrisy.

But at the moment, he almost couldn't care.

Princess Laena's guard followed her, green eyes looking over them carefully and there was a mocking look in his eyes as he did it.

Ned tried not to bristle at the sight of Lannister. He was older than the lion after all but it was simply the Lannister reputation of being power hungry sycophants that gave him pause.

Tywin Lannister had served as Hand for the last twenty years and now because of insults and slights he had taken his eldest and only daughter and returned with her to Casterly Rock, leaving Jaime his heir behind.

Ned had a feeling that this insult of instating his son to the Kingsguard would not go unnoticed by Tywin Lannister.

Gods help them all.

He blinked when he realized that the princess had slid to a stop in front of him. "Lord Brandon, Lord Eddard."

She swept into a brief curtsy as both Ned and Brandon did the same thing. Unlike Ned though, Brandon didn't lower his head respectfully as he did it and used the time that his body was lowered to look the princess over rather quickly. The gesture itself was respectful but the look in his eyes was anything but.

 _He's going to have our heads on spikes before this is over,_ Ned thought irritably to himself.

The princess didn't seem to notice his gaze however and for that Ned was grateful. He wished his brother would think about the things he did before he did them, but thinking introspectively didn't seem to be a strong point with Brandon Stark.

"Taking in our illustrious city my lords?" she asked and her tone was somewhat teasing, her smile genuine.

Ned felt comfortable enough to return it. "It is a fabled city your grace. And we are only here for a short time and unlikely to be back within the next ten years. It would be foolish to not see what it had to offer."

He was being generous…Ned knew he already hated King's Landing.

From her smile, Laena had a feeling he was hiding his true feelings.

"You need not be so indulgent Lord Stark," she said and Ned could practically feel his brother looking between the two of them, searching out the connection they so obviously had. "I know that this city has many flaws."

"The first is the lack of proper drainage which adds to the ghastly smell one is exposed to down near the bay of Blackwater. Ironically enough that is how it got its name."

Brandon wrinkled his nose and Ned was hard pressed not to do the same.

"And then there is the dragon pit," Laena continued. "Long fabled for its ability to house dragons but is now only a symbol of the once mighty beasts my family once commanded. It's only a sorrowful shell of its former glory…if it had any at all."

Just then she turned to them, a thoughtful look on her face. "Perhaps you would like to see it? It is visible almost all throughout the city but there are places where it can be seen more clearly."

"We would be honored," Brandon said looking smugly pleased that he would get to spend the day with a beautiful woman who was not Catelyn Tully.

Ned was hard-pressed to keep from rolling his eyes.

While he would not have minded, enjoyed even the prospect of spending the day with Princess Laena, his brother's presence along on the venture was sure to place a damper upon his enjoyment.

Brandon's ogling of the princess was sure to become noticeable before long. But Ned fought down his irritation and decided a day spent with the princess along with his brother was not such a bad thing.

In fact it would quell any rumors that anything inappropriate happened.

Not that it would even if Brandon wasn't there.

He just didn't want there to be any at all.

Gods what a mess.

"Very well then," Laena said with a smile. "Let us go."

She calmly turned around with Ser Jaime following her and the four of them started up the hill towards the middle of the city.

After a few moments of silence in which Brandon appeared somewhat occupied, Ned slipped up next to the princess and spoke in a low voice so that only she could hear.

"If I may be so bold your grace, who was that woman you were speaking with?"

Laena sighed and her exquisite face turned sad. "She runs an orphanage for the children of King's Landing Lord Eddard. Her name is Mylene and I try and see her as often as I can. The orphanage as growing as more and more children are abandoned on the streets as does its needs. I try to provide them with coin whenever I see them."

Ned blinked. "That is very honorable of you your grace."

That seemed to amuse her. "Honorable my lord? Nay, in my mind there is no such thing as honor. There is only the right thing to do and the wrong thing to do. Those in positions of power are given the fantastic privilege of being able to be examples for those who are not in possession. Some abuse it and others, very few I might add use what power they do have to better the lives of those around him. A lord and a king's responsibility is to act in the service of the realm and those who do not are truly not lords or kings."

Ned was quiet for a long time, simply mulling over all that she had said and marvelling that there was someone in the capital with morals and values that she used to inspire and better others.

It was refreshing in a way that he had not experienced before and Ned almost felt as if his faith in the people of the south not being greedy selfish fools was being restored.

 _The gods know how many people I have met here to validate my thoughts on this matter,_ he thought to himself.

"And you chose the children specifically?" he asked.

"Indeed," she replied. "What many do not realize are that children represent the next generation of people that my brother and his children will one day rule over. It is important to treat them as if they matter for what my father does not realize is that it is the people who keep him in power. For every noble that he offends and every law that he passes he is affecting everyone in every corner of Westeros. And someday, perhaps not even soon those laws and those offenses will come back to hurt him."

"A somewhat pragmatic viewpoint."

"Viewing the king with cold pragmatism is one of the few ways in which he can be viewed," Laena said and she distinctly sounded amused.

"Do you often go out into the city your grace?" Brandon asked from the princess's other side and Laena blinked as if she had forgotten he was there.

"As often as I can my lord. It isn't right for the ruling family to not know what is going on in our city. After all, the people here outnumber us and so to not know their thoughts on all manner of life is to court danger. If my father asks, I may simply say I am protecting his reign by knowing the hearts and intentions of his subjects."

Brandon frowned. Ned could tell he didn't like such a sly approach to getting to the subject as opposed to asking them.

Laena seemed to know it too.

"This is not the north Lord Brandon where honesty and integrity seem to be in the air you breathe. The south is full of its intrigues and one must know how to combat them all."

Brandon snorted slightly. "Even so it is a ruler's task to hear and air the complaints of the people."

Laena chuckled and threw the heir to Winterfell an innocent smile. "And that is what I am doing my lord. After all isn't the task of being a ruler doing what is necessary despite personal feelings?"

The smile she gave him was somewhat knowing and Ned wondered for a moment if she had heard bits of their conversation even as they had heard parts of hers.

Brandon frowned and appeared to be wishing to say something more when the princess beat him to it.

"Behold," she said. "The ancestral dragon pit."

Ned looked up to behold the strangest structure he had ever seen. It was in the center of the city and they had walked faster than he had thought.

In the light of the afternoon sun, the dragon's pit was a very dark color and resembled a shell that had been burnt out. The sun in the cloudless blue sky only highlighted every flaw in the structure from below and the scent on the wind that blew toward them was one of ash as if the building had never ceased burning.

 _It almost appeared as if the top of an egg has been smashed and its contents removed before the base of the egg with his cracked and fragmented pinnacle has been left behind like an ugly sore._

And speaking of ugly, it was one of the most visually unappealing things he had ever seen.

The people of the city seemed to think so as well for the closer they got to the structure, the less people they saw and they all seemed to be going away from it rather than towards it.

 _I do not blame them._

Brandon muttered something under his breath that Ned didn't catch but his face had darkened and his brother could only imagine what he had said.

"I do agree that the dragon pit has a dark and bloody history," Laena said quietly. "Like almost all of the history of the last three hundred years has been since the Targaryens came to power. Prior to the construction of the dragon pit a great Sept was built on Rhaenys Hill known as the Sept of Remembrance which used to be the main sept in King's Landing. But during the Faith Militant uprising, Maegor the Cruel mounted Balerion the Black Dread and incinerated the great sept with dragon flame. He later decreed that a large domed structure would be built on the hill for the Targaryens to house its royal dragons. But because Maegor had killed all those who had built the Red Keep to hide its secrets, many fled rather than work on the dragon pit."

 _I find that must have been a wise decision._

"So in order to construct this home for dragons, Maegor needed to use the city prisoners with supervisors from Myr and Volantis."

"Why did he choose overseers from so far away your grace?" Ned asked.

"I don't know," Laena replied. "Perhaps it is because slavery is not frowned upon in the Free Cities and so such overseers would think nothing of it if they used whatever cruel and unusual practices that were reserved for the slaves on the city's prisoners in order to complete the work faster."

Brandon's upper lip curled in disgust and Ned found he couldn't blame him. Slavery was one of the most vile practices known to man and if it was ever found out that one practiced it in Westeros or sold those into slavery the penalty was death or the Wall.

"Slave labour," Brandon said with a sneer on his face and Ned shot him a look, silently urging him to caution himself against such foolish words.

"I am afraid so," Laena said. "However, I like to believe that the Targaryens are not the only ones who performed some form of slave labour throughout their existence."

Ned frowned at her. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean your grace."

"Well," the princess said as they walked closer to the dragon pit. "To use the most prominent example I can think of, I suppose I would need to reference the Wall."

Brandon stiffened. "There is no comparison between the Wall and slavery your grace."

"Of no?" Laena countered. "Think on this then my lord. As the centuries have passed more and more men ceased choosing the Wall for the honorable reason of defending the realm from the Others and the new recruits who arrive there are now those who have committed some crime and wish to avoid death. Is this not so?"

Brandon bristled but said nothing so it fell to Ned to speak up. "I'm afraid you have a point your grace."

She nodded. "And as such the Night's Watch are subjected to harsh temperatures, lack of familial relations and are refused the concept of marrying and fathering children all in service to the realm. One might suggest that the realm is their task master and they are the slave."

Brandon's face had turned harder and harder and Ned knew he needed to speak up before his brother said something and made an absolute foot of himself.

"That is a true enough analogy your grace," he said. "But if you are using that argument, one might suggest that the Kingsguard is a form of slavery as well. They are prevented the same things that the Night's Watch is."

Behind them, Ser Jaime coughed and Laena tossed a smile at him over her shoulder. "True enough my lord. I am not denying that either of these long standing institutions possess some form of slavery."

"And so how would you combat this your grace?" Brandon asked, his color returning to normal after what he might have perceived her insults towards the Night's Watch and the North itself.

"Well it's very simple," Laena replied. "I would eliminate the Kingsguard altogether."

"That is simple," Ned muttered and behind them Jaime Lannister coughed as if he were insulted.

"Really?" Brandon asked. "And how then would the royal family go about protecting themselves?"

Laena gave him an easy smile. "I'm not eliminating the possibility of a guard my lord. However I am eliminating the name. The Kingsguard should not be a product for the king's own use and the rest of the royal family second. Rather one guard should be assigned for each member of the royal family the king included and self-reliance should become more a facet in the daily lives of the royals. For example, sword play should become a necessity for all of the royal family, not just the males so that they know how to defend themselves.

Brandon snorted and Ned spoke quickly so that his brother's slight misdemeanor would not be noticed. "That is quite a revolutionary idea your grace."

"It is," Laena replied. "But independence is a certain facet in the running of a realm. We need to rely on people but we need to rely on our own minds and choices as well."

"And the Night's Watch?" Brandon asked. "What would you see of them?"

Laena was quiet for a moment as she contemplated the building in front of her. "I would not eliminate it as I would the Kingsguard, however, I would wish for it to not be a lifetime sentence. Instead, the men who on the Wall should be circulated in shifts. One moon a certain group of men will be there and then the next month another group will filling the spots on the wall. The Watch will follow this pattern of rotation so it allows men to go home and see their families, father children and work the lands they may more may not have."

Ned exchanged glances with his brother and could tell that the heir to Winterfell had not thought of that before.

"But then what if they refuse to return?" Brandon replied.

"Well then they will be taken care of the way all deserters of the Night's Watch are," the princess said simply. "That process does not have to change."

There was a silence as they looked at the dragon pit from several feet away, a reminder of ages past and the shadow of history that had yet to go away.

"What should change is this smoking hulk of a building," she said after a few minutes. "It's ironic that this has been used to house beasts of flame for centuries and that fire was the one thing to case its downfall."

She turned away before sighing. "It's a reminder that no matter what monuments are built, no one is immune to flame….not even a Targaryen."

Ω

Another week went by, another week of feasts and dancing and tourney events and Laena was surprised when Lord Eddard advanced further and further in the tourney until there was only a handful of men left.

But all of that was overshadowed on the night of the wedding.

Laena had spent little time with Lord Eddard since she had met him and his brother Brandon in the streets of King's Landing after paying a visit to the orphanage.

She had been surprised to see the two of them and even more surprised at the discussion they had had at the betterment of Westeros's oldest institutions.

Lord Brandon had seemed to express some condescension about some of her opinions but at least his eyes hadn't been on her body as they ahd when they had danced some time earlier.

She had been pleased to see Lord Eddard however and the longer they spent time together, she felt it when he wasn't around.

And then there was their discussion on the Night's Watch.

They hadn't gotten as far as to what it was that the Night's Watch was guarding them from, but it was an unspoken rule that no one ever talked about what happened beyond the Wall to the far north near Hardhome and the icy mountains that hid gods knew what.

Laena remembered her brother's dream and shivered slightly.

 _I don't want to believe that those things could come back,_ she thought to herself on the day of her brother's wedding as the maids were readying her for it. _But we need to be prepared if they do. Perhaps that final gift Phil gave me will come in handy then._

She glanced down at her hands as the maids finished weaving some crystal sparking pins into her hair, making her long pale locks shine like silver. She was wearing red again, as she preferred it to the other house color of black and the dress itself was backless.

Laena had spent the previous night staying up late into the evening with Princess Elia who had begged off from the feast after a few hours saying she felt poorly.

Concerned about her sister to be, Laena had disappeared up the stairs to the wing of the keep where the Martells were staying and knocked on Elia's door.

 _"Your grace," Elia said when she had opened the door. "Shouldn't you be at the feast?"  
_

 _"Perhaps," Laena said quietly. "But you seemed not quite yourself and I wanted to check on you. May I come in?"  
_

 _"Of course."  
_

 _Elia opened the door wide and allowed the princess to step inside before shutting the door behind her.  
_

 _After which the Dornish girl turned back around and sat back down on the bed in her dressing gown. She twisted her hands together and gave Laena a weak smile. "I take it my explanation of feeling poorly didn't go over well?"  
_

 _"Not at all," Laena said. "In fact it was all too believable and that is why I became concerned and came up here."  
_

 _Elia sighed and patted the bed beside her which allowed Laena to smile at her and sit down. Over the last few weeks, they had developed a rapport between them as they were around the same age and were the only princesses in a keep full of men.  
_

 _Laena sat down on the bed and gave her sister a pointed look. "What is it Elia?"  
_

 _The Dornish princess sighed. "I am simply questioning if this is a good idea. If I should have fought my brother on becoming the next queen."  
_

 _Laena raised an eyebrow. "You do not wish to become queen?"  
_

 _"That's not it. I simply underestimated the amount of intrigue and power plays that were a part of the capital. My brother is so caught up in playing the game, but Dorne is at the very tip of the southern half of Westeros and somehow the intrigues of court seemed very far away from me. I never thought it would be something that I would be in the thick of. This is one aspect of being queen that I did not think of or want."  
_

 _"Very few people do," Laena said calmly. "It's worse if you have grown up in it and it has made you desensitized. Up until around several years ago, I was supposed to be the queen remember?"  
_

 _"I know," Elia said. "And I know that the entire realm was shaken to its core when the king began looking for a bride for Prince Rhaegar. Tywin Lannister wasted no time in putting his daughter forward as a potential candidate for such a union."  
_

 _Laena cringed. "Let us not speak of that blonde cow for the sake of all the gods. That girl has her head stuck so up in the clouds that it cannot be healthy. Know this…I would much rather you for a sister than her. A queen like Cersei Lannister is something that I could not abide by."  
_

 _Elia chuckled and Laena returned it, glad she had been able to get her to smile.  
_

 _"I know you're worried," she said. "But I'm going to be by your side throughout this whole process until you adjust. You are going to make a wonderful queen."  
_

 _"Do you think so?" Elia asked, the look in her eyes saying she was desperate to believe her.  
_

 _Laena reached out and gave her a hug. "I know so. Now don't worry and get some rest…that queenship begins tomorrow."_

As she stared at her reflection in the mirror, Laena thought back to what Elia had said about said about how it might have been her that was queen.

She cringed and was never more glad about anything in her life than to not be being queen or having Cersei Lannister for a sister.

"You look like a queen your grace," one of the maids Alya said.

Laena smiled at her and fought not to cringe at the closeness of the maids words to her own thoughts.

"Thank you Alya," she replied.

After shooing the rest of her maids away and leaving her with the one who had spoken, Laena's mind began to wander back to the last conversation she had had with Lord

Eddard about the Night's Watch.

Everyone was very keen to discuss the Night's Watch itself but not their role or what service they performed for the realm.

Laena's eyes drifted to the book she had been pouring over since Aemon had brought it to her about the account of the War for the Dawn.

It had all been very technical seeing as how it was a manuscript that had been written by the ancestors of the First Men who had lived centuries after the conflict had occurred.

 _If only there were firsthand accounts written down,_ she wondered to herself. _But in order to find even the remotest possibility of that, I would need to go north to find them._

 _That would take a long time.  
_

 _Unless you were to talk to someone who has roots in the north to the first men and a legacy that goes back to the War for the Dawn,_ said a small voice in her mind.

Laena blinked.

Of course.

Why hadn't she thought of it before?

She got up and strode over to the desk where the large manuscript on the war for the dawn was located and seized a piece of parchment.

"Are you well your grace?" the maid asked.

"Yes Alya," Laena replied trying to write as quickly as possible.

The moment it was finished, she folded it over and sealed it with wax before handing it over to the maid.

"Alya, I need you to do a favor for me," she said contemplating what she was about to do.

"Yes your grace, what is it?"

Laena took a deep breath. "I need you to take this message and find Lord Eddard Stark and give it to him. I need you to ensure that you speak to no one before or after this task about this. It is very important that this be kept quiet. It is of the utmost importance that this gets to him without anyone knowing. Do you understand?"

Alya nodded. "Of course your grace. I will speak to no one and ensure that no one sees me."

"Thank you," Laena said. "Go on now."

The moment the maid was gone, she took a deep breath and sat down on the edge of the bed waiting for her mother to come for her along with her brothers. They were travelling in a different wheelhouse to the sept from the king, something that Laena couldn't care less about so they were not required to be there at the same time Aerys and Rhaegar were.

 _I'd blame the Nargles for my nervousness if any existed in this world,_ Laena thought to herself. _I just hope he receives the message and comes to where I've asked him to._

Their conversation about the Night's Watch had reminded Laena that Lord Eddard had a heritage and ancestry that went back thousands of years to the creation of the Night's Watch. If there was anyone here in the capital who would know the intricacies of the War for the Dawn or whether or not those creatures returning was possible, he would.

After this, Laena determined to put the whole incident out of her mind.

Her brother's wedding was a beautiful affair and Laena stood slightly behind Elia as she joined hands with her brother.

The Dornish girl looked stunning and Laena could admit that Rhaegar looked quite dashing as well.

Smiles were on the faces of all of those gathered and Laena couldn't help but join in when she saw how relaxed everyone seemed.

The great Sept was packed to full capacity and the only detriment to that was the fact that the heat of everyone's bodies made the place seem like a furnace.

Laena was holding onto Baelor's hand, her little brother having a difficult time keeping quiet because he was so excited.

Laena glanced down as Rhaegar was saying his vows in time to see her little brother wave shortly at Eddard who was standing on the opposite side of the sept.

The quiet wolf didn't respond except for a short smile and Laena darted her eyes about to make sure that her father hadn't seen.

Luck was with them however for it seemed that the last thing on Aerys mind was looking at his children.

When the princess turned back, Eddard's smouldering grey eyes slammed into her violet ones with the force of a hurricane almost making her flinch.

Something she was beginning to like about him very much were those eyes. They were so expressive that she could see almost every emotion flash across them.

They had the capacity to be extremely gentle in a way that she had never seen before and at most times so intense that she almost couldn't look into them.

When they took on that hue they made her shiver and when she saw him with Baelor his eyes would turn warm and gentle in a way that she had never seen before.

The last time she had spoken with him, his eyes had been curious and now they were watching her and seemed perfectly bottomless.

For whatever reason though, she felt compelled not to look away.

 _I wonder if the intensity of his gaze is connected to the contents of the note I charged Alya to give to him earlier,_ she thought. _If so he might be trying to gage what it is that I want._

Their long gaze continued until the septon called out in a loud voice that this man and woman were now bound together in holy matrimony.

Laena closed her eyes briefly as the bells began to ring signalling the marriage of the prince and the woman who would one day be queen.

The rest of the day passed in a blur after that.

Laena returned to the keep with her family and the royal couple and proceeded to partake in the dancing and in the pouring of wine until late into the night.

Sometime around the turning of the new day, Laena quietly slipped from the festivities and left the keep to go down to the shoreline.

It took her only a few minutes to get there, but she was still surprised to see a familiar form sitting on a rock in the moonlight by the shoreline.

She slowed her pace and took a deep breath before walking almost hesitantly towards him.

"I wondered if you would come," she said.

The form turned slightly and she caught sight of Lord Eddard's familiar grey eyes in the silvery light. "It did not appear that I would be able to refuse your grace. One does not simply refuse a royal summons."

Laena opened her mouth to protest that it was not a royal summons when she saw a twinkling in his eye and knew that it was his way of teasing her.

He didn't smile, but she knew he didn't often.

She moved beside him and sat down on the same rock as he moved slightly to give her more room. "What is it you wished to see me about your grace?"

Laena took a deep breath and twisted her hands together. "Upon our last conversation, we spoke of the Night's Watch and its history in protecting Westeros."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "We did. Did you wish to speak of it again?"

She nodded. "Yes, but…in a different sort of capacity."

He frowned slightly. "Please explain your grace."

"We spoke of the time honored history of the Night's Watch and compared its functions to slave like connotations," Laena continued. "But we did not speak of their role and it is that to which I wish to address now."

"Essentially you wish to know more of what it is that the Night's Watch protects the realm from," Eddard finished for her and she nodded.

"Indeed," Laena replied. "I know that in the south the role of the Night's Watch is now seen as a bit of a joke against those lords who are more concerned with power than they are the past. But the knowledge of what was fought against those thousands of years ago has been forgotten. And I wish to know more of it."

Eddard was silent for a long time. "The Others you mean?"

Laena bristled slightly as the memory of those ice monsters her brother had told her about washed over her but she pressed on. "Yes."

Eddard glanced down at his hands and she could tell that she was asking a broad question.

"Your question has many parts your grace," he said. "The creation of those known as the Others no one knows. How to combat them also no one knows so no one knows how they were defeated. All that is known is that they were beat back into the north by some force that is lost to us now and the Wall was constructed. There are many theories as to how this occurred but no one definitive one. Why do you ask your grace?"

Laena was trying not to feel frustrated with the lack of knowledge she was being given and decided that the only way she was going to get anywhere was if she was completely honest with her northern guest.

"Do you recall that there were several Targaryen ancestors of mine, Denys the Dreamer in fact, who had the gift of prophecy?"

He nodded. "I do."

This was the hard part.

"I lay claim to no such gift but…as of late I have been having many dreams about the frozen north, far beyond the Wall…about beings that I cannot explain. My brother has been having them too."

Of course she herself had had no such dreams yet but given the fact that Phil had sent her to this world and she had always suffered from dreams in her own world as Luna Lovegood, Laena didn't think that it would be very long before she had them.

Ned frowned at her, but she had a feeling it was one borne of concern. "Would you describe them for me your grace?"

She nodded, recalling the words that her brother had spoken to her earlier about the dream he had had.

"It begins with me standing on a field covered in ice," she said hesitantly, her eyes fixed on the water and the moonlight that was reflecting off of it. The water was lapping at the shoreline and creating a pleasant sound to her ears.

"I can't make our anything through the blinding snow and it's cold," she shivered. "So very cold. The snow is making it difficult to see no matter how hard I try and slowly I begin to look around, trying to make sense of something…anything. And then I finally turned back…I see forms coming towards me out of the blinding snow. I can feel my heart begin to speed up but try as I might, I cannot move. I can only stand there…waiting."

"And then?" Ned prompted, his voice no louder than a whisper on the wind.

"And then I blink," Laena said so softly her lips were barely moving. "And then all of a sudden there is this horrible face staring into mine. It is only inches away and its horrible icy blue eyes freeze me where I stand. It is a tall hairless creature with a crown upon its head. But the spines of the crown seem to be coming out of its head itself. It opens its mouth and makes a terrible cry…and then I am awake."

She glanced up and saw that Eddard's face had gone completely white…at least it appeared so in the moonlight.

He didn't speak for a very long time and Laena began to become worried. "Are you alright my lord?"

"Yes," he replied, but his voice was even softer than normal. "I don't know whether or not you believe in prophecy your grace. But I feel in my heart that this is not something that can be dismissed on heresy."

"So you think it possible?" Laena asked. "That another…war with these creatures is imminent?"

"I don't know," Eddard replied. "But this dream is not one that is common in the south given that no one here believes in the Others and no one in the North knows what an Other…what a…wight looks like. At least until now."

"Do you believe in the gods Ned?" Laena asked, forgetting herself for a moment and calling him by his informal name. "That they may send dreams?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his dark curls. "I don't know your grace. But you have given me knowledge of things that I do not understand….but something important and urgent none the less. The reason I say this is so urgent is because several days before the wedding my brother received a letter from my father strongly charging him that as soon as the royal wedding is concluded he is to return to Winterfell with all haste. Apparently the wildling problem in the north is becoming worse. They are moving south and seeing as how we have fought them for thousands of years, this poses a problem to my father."

Laena felt a cold feeling settle in her stomach. "Do…Do you suppose that there is a reason that they are coming south?"

Eddard's handsome face was grim. "I didn't before…but now…now I'm not so sure."

Ω

 **Sorry for the last update guys, I've been having a bit of a hard time with this story knowing where I want to go with it. However the time has given me some new ideas and hope that this update is more interesting than the last. I apologize for how slow this story has been but given the fact that up until several weeks ago I had been slow on ideas, it is some what understandable. The reason Laena told Ned about the dream is that she wanted some first hand account or knowledge from the men who had lived long ago and she thought there was a chance that Ned might have had that being from the North and all and having some sort of firsthand account from his ancestors. Things will be moving faster here on out and in the next chapter we will see the conclusion of the tourney and Ned's journey back to the Eyrie as well as some interesting developments in the capital. Don't forget to review!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Laena lost track of how long she and Ned lingered on that rock simply talking about the north and the others and the dreams that the royal prince had had.

They sat there so long that the night began to grow cool and Laena shivered in her sleeveless dress. Though they were in the midst of high summer, the night still had the potential to grow cool and she was dealing with the dregs of it as they approached the coldest hour of the night. It only intensified as they were by the water and the princess was just about to cast a heating charm about herself when Ned demonstrated why the men of the North were famous for their honor.

"May I?" he said quietly and she blinked at him. "What?"

"You are suffering from the chill of the night your grace."

Without even saying anything more, he got up from the rock and removed the short cloak he had been wearing and wrapped it about her shoulders before fastening it.

In doing so, his fingers brushed the skin of her neck and they both stiffened but carried on as if nothing had happened. Laena could feel her cheeks burning and she was glad they only had the moon and stars for light so her embarrassment could not be seen.

When he had finished the task, he seated himself again on the rock beside her and the two young people were silent for a long time.

"What shall we do?" Laena asked quietly finally.

"I don't know," Ned replied seriously. "But it would be folly to do nothing. However there is not much I can do at this time. As soon as the week of celebration is out and the tourney is over I will be returning to the Vale with Robert and Lord Arryn. After that my fostering will continue in earnest until I come of age and am ready to return to Winterfell, perhaps to be given some small keep of my own."

His voice had turned distant and Laena had a feeling he was thinking of other things than simply wild dreams and legends long buried.

So she decided to venture a question.

"Eddard…if you...because you are not the heir to Winterfell there are a great many more freedoms open to you than your brother. What would you do with them?"

He blinked at her, his quiet grey eyes unnaturally still in the light. "What do I want to do?"

"Yes, what is it that you want to do with your life?"

She could tell by the way he stared out the sea that he hadn't really thought of it before. The world was truly a big and exciting and frightening place for those sons who had more freedom than their older brothers. While women and the eldest sons were trapped in a life that they may not like or want, the second and third sons had options that many would kill for.

Laena wanted to know what he would do with his.

"I don't know," he said finally and then to her surprise cursed under his breath before looking at her apologetically. "Your pardon but I seem to be saying that a lot lately."

Laena waved off the apology chuckling all the while. "No matter Eddard. I think we are in a perpetual state of reality that is entitled, _I don't know._ "

To her surprise again he smiled at her, a real honest genuine smile that she had not seen since her little brother had forced the three of them to spend the afternoon together not long ago.

Her brother….

Gods damn it.

Ned must have seen the confliction on her face for he frowned. "What is it?"

She sighed again and twisted one of her long silvery blonde curls around her finger. "I was simply thinking of Baelor. He is not going to take well the news that you are leaving."

One of Eddard's eyebrows rose and the princess could tell that he didn't quite believe her. "Truly?"

"Truly," the second Targaryen child responded. "As he is the youngest there are times when he is overlooked. I try not to let that happen as that is not our intention but my father's gaze is constantly fixed upon my brother Rhaegar and I think Baelor feels left out of things. Except when he is with you."

Eddard looked down at the hands that were resting in his lap and said nothing though Laena could tell what she had said had pleased him.

"I find Baelor benefits greatly when he has someone he can look up to," she went on gently. "Who better than the man who saved his life?"

"I fear you are praising me more than I deserve your grace," the wolf of the north said quietly and the princess cocked her head to one side. "And why is that?"

"I was simply doing my duty," he replied. "Should anyone be praised for doing such?"

"A pragmatic question that I am afraid I do not have the answer to," Laena said thoughtfully. "However if everyone simply did their duty which was honorable and brave, would we even know what those things are and value them as they should be valued? I think not. We have need of a few exceptional people to demonstrate them to us."

"And I am one such man?" Eddard asked in a low voice.

"You are," Laena whispered back, not sure where the words were coming from but meaning every one of them.

She suddenly became aware of the fact that they were now sitting quite close and found herself in a conflict of desires.

The blonde knew if someone were to come upon them now it would be seen as unseemly especially as she was a princess out on the shoreline unaccompanied by one of the Kingsguard all of whom were more preoccupied with guarding the king and the royal prince and new princess during the wedding festivities.

For a moment Laena felt guilty.

She really should be getting back to the feast. She had had her questions answered as best as she could from Lord Eddard though and now her task was complete.

Her desire was tussling within her because she was enjoying sitting there with the quiet wolf far more than she would have been if she were at the feast.

 _I wonder what mother would say if she could see me now,_ Laena thought to herself wryly.

"Well then thank you your grace," Eddard said finally. "Your words mean much to me."

Deep down Laena wondered just how much they meant to him before she realized she was being ridiculous and decided with some aggravation that their time together should draw to a close before their luck would run out.

"Tomorrow is the end of the tourney," she said and he nodded. "It is."

"You have done very well thus far," she said and he chuckled. "It is somewhat surprising since I have never liked tourneys and we do not have them much in the north."

"I have heard that," she said thoughtfully. "Why is that?"

He coughed as if he were trying to hide a laugh and looked at her with his deep grey eyes. "Begging your pardon your grace, but tourneys are more of a southern pursuit. Many northerners regard them as activities that are rather…soft. They do not test the mettle of a man the way that war and winter does."

 _I find I must agree,_ Laena thought absently to herself.

"But if tourneys are not a common activity in the north," she began. "How is it that you are so accomplished in them my lord? I did not think they were an entity that someone could be naturally gifted at."

"In that regard you are correct Princess, but I have spent a good deal of time in the south, so my activities with Lord Arryn did encompass something in the way of mock tourneys. He thought Robert and I would need to participate in one before long and Robert was always keen to teach me things that I did not know."

"He has been a good teacher then," Laena observed wryly and by the subtle snort that came from beside her, the second son of Lord Rickard knew it too.

"Fair enough," he replied. "But I find I still do not like tourneys."

"Why is that?"

He cocked his head to one side. "I find they are like playing games your grace. Tourneys do not prepare a man for war and they do not prepare a man for the cold and the wind that turns his blood to ice and his heart to fear. The long winters and brittle summers do that."

My were the Starks ever a grim lot.

"You do give your opinion about such matters freely don't you?" she observed and he looked at her startled as if he had spoken out of turn.

Laena raised a hand to stop him and halt any apologies that might be coming. "Save your breath Eddard. I find too many people in the keep tell me the things they think I want to hear. I find blunt honesty like yours refreshing."

The man nodded before turning back to the shore. "Then perhaps you would like the north your grace. People there are more interested in getting to the point than they are with pretty words and songs."

"I believe it," the princess replied. "I shall have to make it a habit to do so then. And bring Baelor of course. I can only imagine the state he would be in if he found out I was coming north to see you and didn't bring him along."

Eddard chuckled. "Of course, bring him as well."

"I imagine he would like it," the princess said. _Even when I was Luna and the Nargles were still out and about did I know that northern air was good for witches and wizards._

 _Maybe that was why the wretched creatures always congregated on the edge of the forest waiting for students to come to too close. Even though there aren't any Nargles here in King's Landing, there are quite a few Wrackspurts. Nasty things those, always did like to play with the emotions of others. I can see that they are no less present here than they were in my other world. They might even be stronger here. I certainly hope there aren't any up north. Although the Blibbering Humdinger might be there._

"You would need to bring your furs your grace," Eddard said quietly. "The North is no comfortable place for southerners. We are regarded as savages by some

Laena struggled with herself for a moment before she made up her mind to say what she wanted and gods damn the consequences. She had been wrestling for the last few days whether or not she should talk to Eddard about the dream her brother had had and whether or not it meant anything in the grand scheme of things and also about whether or not she should continue this odd friendship she had built with the wolf of the north.

She couldn't deny that she wanted to. Speaking with Ned was refreshing on so many levels.

She loved all of her brothers and her mother fiercely but it was different in speaking with this Stark than with them. There was a blunt honesty and a grave honor and purpose in everything he did that appealed to her. His looks aside, she was beginning to value his blunt personality and clear way of speaking and thinking.

Ironic enough of a thing wasn't it that his very name meant plain and clear and without deceit?

She would understand the full weight of that later.

"I do believe I shall miss you," she said so quietly she wasn't sure that he had heard her. But then from the way that Eddard stiffened slightly, he had heard every word.

There was silence between them for a long moment before she heard his whispered words replied, no more than a breath of wind. "And I you your grace."

Ω

Everyone slept late the following morning including Laena who had taken very little time to attend her brother's wedding feast at all. She had missed the bedding ceremony, the toasts the dancing, everything. All to spend most of her evening with Eddard.

It had been a much better alternative in her opinion.

Though she couldn't shake the memory of the dream Rhaegar had told her about from her mind.

Despite the lovely conversation with Eddard and the many things she seemed to have in common with him like a devotion to family, a sense of duty and honor and a deep ancestral history as well as some rather disturbing connections about the future, she knew it wasn't going to last very long.

The tourney would conclude today and after that all of the nobles who had come for the wedding would be returning home.

Including Eddard with Robert Baratheon and Jon Arryn to the Vale.

She did feel sad about the prospect.

Although the princess did attempt to put on a brave face as she readied herself for the day and the coming tourney.

All Laena had to do to cheer herself slightly as imagine the chaos that had occurred the previous night when she and Eddard had returned to the keep.

She smirked to herself, remembering the portkey she had given to her brother that would take him and Elia back to her good sister's chambers in Dorne where they might spend the night free from any watching eyes and lewd remarks.

Laena could see that Elia had been nervous about the bedding ceremony and thus had found a way for her to skip it entirely. It had been a little surprising to the princess as she had thought that the Dornish were very fluid in their sexuality, though Elia did not appear to be one of them.

 _I suppose there are exceptions to every family and every country._

But her sparing her brother and his new bride the awkwardness of the bedding ceremony was not the most amusing thing about the evening.

What had however, was the fact that when she and the quiet wolf had returned to the keep, the entire place had been in an uproar searching for the prince and the new princess.

Noblemen and knights and servants had turned the place into a home that had been ransacked searching everywhere.

Laena had simply smirked, bid Ned a quick goodnight before anyone saw the two of them and dashed up the stairs to her own chambers before ensuring that her brothers were neatly tucked away in their own beds.

The triplets had viewed the wedding feast as rather boring especially after nearly a month of them and they were more excited about the conclusion of the tourney the following day.

Four knights were still to compete, Ser Arthur, Ser Barristan, Eddard Stark and Euron Greyjoy of the Iron Islands.

It had surprised Laena that a kraken had made it this far in the event but she was intrigued all the same.

While she was pleased for her brother's sworn shield and the man they called the Bold having made it so far, there was only one man that Laena wanted to take the victor's purse and the crown of flowers.

Tourneys were not as dangerous as war, but they still had their problems nonetheless. Men being wounded and even dying in tourneys were more common than not, and Laena swallowed hard at the thought of something similar happening to Ned.

 _I do believe I've grown quite fond of wolves,_ she thought to herself as she dressed with the help of the maids.

There was a sudden tap on her door and the princess turned towards it. "Come!"

The door opened a second later to reveal the queen and all of the maids bowed as one. "Your grace."

"Mother," Laena said as soon as she dismissed the maids and the two were alone. "Is something the matter?"

"I might ask you the same thing?" Rhaella asked in a stern voice. "Your brother and his bride still have not been found."

"And you are coming to me because you think they are here?" Laena asked with a faint hint of sarcasm in her tone.

Her mother appeared exasperated. "Would I be here if I didn't think that you had something to do with it?"

Laena raised an eyebrow. "I don't know mother. Would you?"

"Do not lie to me young lady! Did you or did you not have something to do with your brother and good sister's disappearance the night before?"

Laena sighed, wondering if in fact the Nargles had returned and her mother was being harried by them even now.

 _They are nasty little buggers,_ she thought grimly to herself, _Perhaps I should begin with trying to make a potion that could banish them. The realm has enough Wrackspurts I dare say._

"Laena?"

The blonde blinked and realized her mother was still looking at her and sighed. "And what if I did?"

Rhaella raised an eyebrow. "Then I would say what you have done is extremely unwise. To test the nobles that serve us is a rash thing. Many have come for this event, to see two houses united and without it they may begin to think that we are spurning the gods – "

"Forgive me mother," Laena interrupted. "But I don't really give a damn about what the nobles think about this bedding ceremony. Princess Elia was decidedly uncomfortable about the event and so I gifted Rhaegar with a way that he and her could skip it and enjoy the night alone. Why should I care about the opinion of a few lecherous old men who are so driven by their hormones that they do not see sense?"

Rhaella sighed and ran a hand through her long blonde curls, suddenly looking slightly older than she was. "Your feminist instincts do you credit my daughter, but that opinion won't hold sway with the nobles who claim a right has been denied them."

"And what right is that?" Laena interrupted again. "The right to stare at a woman's naked flesh as they parade her towards her husband for an event that should have been outlawed long before the Targaryens took the throne of Westeros? Or perhaps the right to view a couple in the midst of an act that is very personal, private and powerful? Say what you want mother, but I will not agree. In this manner, I have acted as my conscience dictated and you cannot say that I am wrong, because I know that you would not want to be used in this manner too."

Rhaella stared at her daughter for a long time before she sighed and seemed to deflate. "Did they tell you when they would return at least?"

"Sometime before the tourney I would expect," Laena said nonchalantly. They hadn't actually told her, but her brother had assured her before he had gone to find his bride and spirit her away that they would return some time in the morning.

He had said with a chuckle that he had a feeling that many of the nobles would be furious at what they viewed as the best part of the whole wedding spectacle being denied them.

But he had also said that he didn't want to miss the aftermath of it when there was nothing they could do about it.

 _"I do believe that I am glad that you won't be competing in this tourney," Laena had told him with a laugh as they stood together watching the guests dance and laugh and cavort with each other. "It will ensure that the men and nobles do not have an excuse to hit you after the stunt you're about to pull."_

"Very well," Rhaella sighed and turned before putting her hand on the door. "Sometimes I wish you children would think before doing things."

"This is hardly going to start a rebellion mother," Laena replied.

"Nay, but it is also something that will not be forgotten."

"Nonsense," the dragon princess said confidently. "All they need is a night of drunken revelry in a whorehouse and they will forget who was married at the wedding much less who was at it."

"I hope you are right my darling," the queen said uncertainly. "Now get dressed, the tourney will be soon."

She left, closing the door behind her and Laena sighed at it before going out onto her balcony and taking in the morning sunlight.

There were times when her mother really was plagued by Wrackspurts…but then those nasty creatures were all over the capital messing with people's emotions.

Just because there were no Nargles in this place didn't mean that there weren't all manner of other magical creatures that she could see messing with people's heads and making them act ridiculous.

And as far as she was concerned, those nobles were the worst lot of them.

 _They will complain and they will rage, but a night of drunken revelry in a brothel or a tavern will be enough to make them forget all about it. Although I am glad that Rhaegar won't be participating in the tourney at this juncture. Some of those Wrackspurt infested nobles would want to make it a habit to hit him and make it seem legal. Ah well._

She finished dressing and then nodded at the handmaidens who bowed to her with murmured words of _your grace_ before they left silently out the door of the chamber.

Laena glanced back at the book that was resting on her desk and suppressed a sudden shiver about what had happened both from her brother's dream and the conversation she had had with Ned the night before.

 _Gods…if the Others exist, then does that mean that the Blibbering Humdinger does too and is somewhere north of the wall. I can only imagine the chaos if that particular beast exists. For all our sakes I hope not._

She left the room then, making a mental note that there would be a time coming when she would need to go north of the wall and make her own deductions for herself.

 _I might need to speak to Ned again too,_ the blonde thought to herself. _He told me that his brother was being recalled to Winterfell immediately following the wedding to deal with the threat of the wildlings…but maybe we should be looking to see why they are coming south in the first place.  
_

She was cut off in mid thought when all of a sudden there came the sound of running feet from behind her.

"Laena!"

The princess turned around for find her brother Daeron behind her, huffing and puffing as he hurried to catch up. "What is it little brother?"

"You haven't heard?" the eldest of the triplets asked as he came level with his older sister.

"Heard what?" the dragon princess asked, becoming somewhat impatient.

"Rhaegar and Princess Elia have returned!"

Ω

 _He looks pleased with himself,_ Laena observed as she stood beside her mother and brothers, watching her older brother and his new wife walk into the throne room. _In fact, they both do._

When her brother had come to her a few hours before the feast the night before and expressed to her that Elia was uncomfortable with the idea of a bedding ceremony with all of the nobles staring at her and that he too was a little unnerved by it, she had been more than happy to create something for them to escape.

Rhaegar had been enormously relieved and thanked her profusely before he had disappeared with the portkey.

She hadn't seen her brother and his new wife for some time before she disappeared down to the seaside with Eddard, so she assumed they used it.

Now as Laena looked at her father to gauge his reaction, and see whether or not he would insist that the bedding commence now, she also cast an eye about the throne room to see the general air of the people gathered.

Many of the men appeared disgruntled that their chance for fun had been taken from them but all Laena could do was smirk. When she had been Luna Lovegood, she had loved to confuse people with her manner of speech and dress and her dreamy expressions. And it had worked a good deal of the time too.

Of course she had gotten a good deal of scorn for it as well but that was a small price to pay for making people aware of what was important.

She glanced at her brother who had his hand wrapped possessively around Elia's who in turn had turned a dark pink color at all the attention she was receiving in the room.

She caught the princess's eye and Laena gave her an encouraging smile which she returned. Her brother did not look at his twin for fear of drawing attention to himself. He had an easy smirk on his face and the manner of his walk was one of confidence and satisfaction. She could tell the night had been fulfilling for him.

And then she cringed at the direction of her thoughts before bringing her attention back to her father.

"Greetings father," Rhaegar said calmly as the royal couple came to a stop before the throne. "I trust you are well."

Laena's smirk deepened and she knew right away what her brother was playing at. If Aerys approved of what had happened, then she knew it would quickly become a forbidden topic at court and no one would dare to bring it up though there would always be quiet speculation.

At the moment though, their father simply looked bored.

"Has the marriage been consummated?" he asked.

Rhaegar didn't seem too embarrassed by having too talk about this rather private affair as Laena knew that he knew it was necessary.

"It has," the prince replied, his smirk only widening and Elia stared hard at the floor to hide her red cheeks.

"And the first sheets have been red?"

"They have."

"Excellent," the king said as if he couldn't be bothered with this whole thing. "Then you are dismissed. Get ready for the tourney."

And just like that it was over.

Laena had a feeling that her father wouldn't give much thought to where his son and new daughter had gone off to just as long as she was now a Targaryen. And no one thought that the prince would have any reason to lie given that both he and Elia had disappeared at the same time.

Laena caught the eye of Eddard who had been standing in the crowd next to his older brother who looked similarly disgruntled at the fact that the king hadn't demanded the bedding ceremony commence right then.

She rolled her eyes and left the room, to make her way to the tourney grounds to see its completion.

It was there where she joined her new sister and sat down next to her gracefully. "You're looking well. How are you feeling?"

Elia glanced down at her folded hands and in the sunlight of the new day, Laena could see her cheeks grow pink.

"I'll take that as a good sign," the dragon princess said with a cheeky smile. "I know my brother enough to know when he looks satisfied."

Elia's cheeks flamed brighter than before. "He was, wasn't he?"

Laena threw back her head and laughed. "I'm sure he was."

"I'm simply glad we got to skip the bedding ceremony," Elia said with a slight shudder before changing the subject for which Laena was glad. She didn't want to spend too much time talking about it. "I know I am Dornish and we have a reputation for being somewhat…fluid with our ability to tolerate certain things. But…But I am glad that it was private.

It felt more…special that way."

Laena, though a little uncomfortable, smiled. "I'm glad."

Her brother settled in next to her in the next moment and Laena was pleased when little Baelor climbed into Elia's lap and snuggled back against her. He had developed a liking for the Dornish princess too and Laena could see that his actions had pleased her good sister.

 _Good,_ she thought to herself. _Elia is a Targaryen now and she should be treated as part of the family. And hopefully we can keep the Wrackspurts away from the tourney grounds as it might make some of the men violent._

When the king was seated on his makeshift throne above the place where the rest of his family was sitting, he gave the word and the tourney began.

Immediately Laena began to tense as the first two riders with lances in hand made their way astride their horses onto the tourney grounds and took up positions against one another.

Upon closer inspection, she realized that it was in fact Ser Barristan and Ser Arthur. The joust between Lord Eddard and Euron Greyjoy would follow.

The princess allowed herself to relax a bit as she watched both sworn members of the Kingsguard thunder towards each other while the crowd was deathly silent.

She glanced down at her brothers with a smile all of whom were on the edge of their seats with their eyes wide and jaws slackened at the sight before them.

She didn't blame them after all.

Viserys had seen a joust before but because he was only nine years old at the moment he did not remember it. The triplets and Baelor would not remember the tourneys that had been held to celebrate their birth as Daeron, Aemon and Vhagar were eight years old and Baelor four.

This would be the first tourney that they would remember and Laena hoped that they would find it as exciting as possible.

In her own private opinion, it was the most exciting one that _she_ had ever seen.

 _That wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that Ned Stark is a serious contender for the crown of flowers would it?_

Laena allowed herself a private smirk before she convinced herself that it was the Wrackspurts no doubt messing with her.

 _Nasty creatures those…I need to look into some sort of herbal remedy to keep them away. They get worse as people get older. The last thing that I want to happen is for them to bother my brothers._

A roar from the crowd drew her attention back to the joust and she saw with some trepidation that Ser Arthur had triumphed over Ser Barristan by just a fraction.

Both men were very talented and had been forced to ride against each other no less than twelve times before Arthur succeeded in knocking Barristan from the saddle.

Laena watched as the younger knight went to assist the older in getting to his feet and the two of them shook hands before they exited on their mounts and left the tourney grounds, Ser Barristan to return to his place beside the king and Ser Arthur to prepare for his next joust against either Lord Eddard or the second son of Lord Quellon Greyjoy.

Laena swallowed hard as two more men entered the tourney grounds astride their horses and faced off against one another.

Her mouth suddenly felt as dry as the sands of Dorne and she twisted her hands together in her lap so it would not be obvious that they were trembling.

Daeron leaned over to her so that he might whisper in her ear. "Who do you think will win this one sister?"

Laena gave him a slight smile and made a big show of tapping the side of her face as if she were thinking hard. "It's difficult to say Daeron, both lords are very good."

Daeron rolled his eyes. "You're sitting on the fence again Laena."

The princess sighed. "Very well, I think Lord Eddard will win. And I say this because what do the Ironborn know of tourneys? They are more concerned with reeving and paying their "Iron Price" then they are in tourneys."

She knew she was making a gross generalization but at the moment it was the best she had. After all, Euron Greyjoy would not have made it this far in the tourney if he hadn't possessed some form of talent.

Still though, the blonde had a feeling that Ned was going to win. She had seen him joust and was surprised at the amount of talent he had when he was thundering down the stretch. He was very good as well and she smiled a little to herself at the thought that he would win the tourney.

"Will the both of you be quiet?" Aemon snapped, his eyes glued to the two men astride their mounts at other ends of the field. "They're about to start."

The moment the words had left his mouth, Laena said Ned astride his black charger, lance in hand urge his horse forward towards the other Ironborn.

She swallowed hard as they thundered down the stretch towards each other and took a deep breath as the two neared each other.

For a moment it seemed like the lances were close…so close to one another and then at the last moment Ned moved graciously to one side and missed Euron's lance by a fraction of a centimeter.

Laena hoped that her sigh of relief was not as loud as it sounded in her own ears. Thankfully the entire crowd had been holding its breath it seemed and let it out collectively when it became obvious that a hit would not be scored.

The horses cantered to a stop at opposite ends of the grounds and now Lord Eddard was now facing the royal box where she and her brothers were sitting.

It seemed like only a second before they were thundering towards each other again and Laena held her breath as the two horses came close but then galloped away from each other leaving both of the riders unhinged.

This carried on for almost another eight times causing Laena to have to hold her breath each time and then let it out slowly when a hit was not scored.

 _By all the gods old and new…if I am having this must stress simply watching a joust I cannot imagine what the other two are feeling_.

As the horses thundered together for what was the ninth time, Laena had a sudden feeling in her mind that this would be the last time.

They would not fight each other again after this.

And she was right.

As the two riders neared each other again, Lord Eddard suddenly moved his lance in a peculiar fashion that she had not seen before while simultaneously leaning away slightly and before the princess realized what had happened, Euron Greyjoy had been thrown from his horse.

The second son of Lord Quellon landed with a crash on the ground and there was a moment of stunned silence before the crowd leapt to its feet as one and began to roar with approval.

Laena closed her eyes briefly and let out her breath, feeling her heart rate return to normal before she got to her feet and began to applaud along with the rest of them.

"It seems you were right sister," Daeron said looking pleased as he glanced up at her with impressed violet eyes. "Lord Eddard was the victor. Now it will be him and Ser Arthur.

That is going to be quite a joust indeed."

 _Don't I know it._

The ten minutes it took for both knight and lord to take new lances in their hands and exchange horses for another seemed like a moon's turn for Laena who was having a hard time not biting her fingernails in nervousness.

 _Get a hold of yourself,_ she wanted to snap. _It will not be the end of the world if Ned does not win. And he will not be injured._

But of the second thing she could not be certain and that was what worried her the most. Tourneys could be dangerous affair and Ned was of the north where they were not performed as often.

He had performed remarkably well thus far but he would now be facing Ser Arthur, a man whose fighting prowess was a thing of legend. Could he really best him?

A moment later the blonde felt guilty for her doubt and steeled herself for calm as the two men faced each other.

She could feel the magic sizzling in her fingertips as it often did when she was nervous. Her magic was different in this world than it had been in her last but it was no less volatile. She found she suffered a little more from accidental magic in this life so she had to work twice as hard to control it but now it was the last thing on her mind.

The joust seemed to pass in a blur for her and the pace of the two men seemed to slow as their mounts neared each other for the first time.

Everyone in the stands leaned forward in anticipation and seemed on the edge of their seats.

Out of the corner of her eye Laena could see her brothers eyes as wide as they had ever been. She knew they were hoping for Ser Arthur to be the victor as they had known him the longest and had heard tell of his legendary skills.

The only one who might be hoping for Ned to win aside from her was little Baelor whom she could see was sitting on Elia's lap and holding her hands as tightly in his little fists as he could.

She turned back to the joust and bit down hard on her lip when the two came parallel and passed each other for the second time.

Time was slowing down for her it seemed but no one else. The expressions of everyone else in the stands seemed sluggish compared to the thoughts racing through her own mind.

Again and again the lances came near to each other but made no effort it seemed to touch the other causing her heart to speed and slow at an alarming consistency.

 _Make up your minds!_ She wanted to scream. _Either do something or ride off the tourney grounds! I don't think I can take much more of this!_

She knew what Ser Arthur was doing, as it was something she had seen him do many times when he had jousted. He liked to wait a few times when riding to see what the strengths and weaknesses of his opponent were. How a man rode his horse, how strong his grip on the lance in his hand was and how fast and slow as well as how sharp his reflexes were, were all key things when determining how good or bad your jousting opponent would be.

To her untrained eyes, it seemed that Ned had no such weaknesses as his grip about the lance was tight but not vice like. His eyes through his helm seemed focused and concentrated and stared at nothing else but the knight opposite him.

 _Good,_ she thought to herself. _That sort of focus will keep him relaxed._

The two rode against each other for no less than eight times before the joust truly began to become interesting.

It seemed that Ser Arthur was ready to make a move on his opponent for when the two came parallel with each other again, he moved his lance to strike the helm of the second son of Lord Rickard.

Laena inhaled sharply and then let the air out all at once as Ned moved out of the way just in time to avoid the point of the long lance.

"Did you see that?" Aemon asked with shock on his face as he turned to his brothers on either side of him. "I've never seen anyone evade Ser Arthur like that."

Laena felt a surge of pride at his words and fought to keep a smirk from her face.

 _Don't get excited yet,_ she thought to herself. _Just because Ned has quick reflexes does not mean that he will be able to evade Arthur forever._

The two men faced each other again and this time, Ned was facing towards her so she could see his face.

For some reason that made her even more nervous.

And this time as the two chargers thundered down the stretch towards each other, their hooves kicking mounds of dirt into the air and the steam pouring from their nostrils with the effort, Laena almost hunkered down in her seat.

As they were about to come parallel with each other again, just then the princess saw something that made her tense up in horror.

Arthur's lance was too close.

She had seen him use this trick a number of times before when he had been jousting. He made it seem as if he were not going to bring his lance up by lowering it slightly as he neared his opponent and then brought it around quick to knock them from the saddle.

Just as it was poised to do to Ned now.

 _Not this time,_ she thought to herself fiercely before she sent a jinx at the knight in question. It would not hurt him, but it would throw him off balance so that his lance wouldn't hit Ned regardless of whether or not the wolf was ready to hit _him._

She had decided to do it before she had even consciously thought about it and the moment the murmured words left her lips she blinked at herself. What had she done?

Laena was able to see the effects of the spell right away as they caused Ser Arthur to wobble slightly in his seat as it had never happened before. It was easily mistakable for people to think that a wind had blown and unseated the knight slightly before something terrific happened…something she had no part in.

As Ser Arthur shifted slightly in his seat, his lance passed dangerously close to Ned and for a moment Laena thought it was going to connect with him.

In that moment their eyes met for a brief second and she saw something unfathomable flash in them.

And then the second son of Lord Rickard did something so unthinkable that for a moment Laena thought she had imagined it.

In full view of all gathered at the tourney that day, the quiet wolf leaned so far back on his mount that it appeared as if he had laid down on top of it and the lance of Ser Arthur passed over his head.

Next to her, Vhagar let out a startled oath and it was a credit to how great her shock was that Laena didn't send him a glare like she would have normally.

She felt the need to open her eyes as wide as they would possibly go in order to fully take in what had happened.

And then before her astonished eyes, Eddard seemed to rise from the back of his horse as fast as he could.

She could tell it had taken an effort but it was still faster than she would have thought. And just as Arthur passed by, Ned managed to raise his lance and strike the knight in the side of his helm, sending him flying from his mount and into the ground.

There was a stunned silence throughout the tourney grounds as Eddard Stark reached the other end of the stretch and reined his frothing horse in.

The silence lasted for almost ten seconds before the crowd began to roar in a way that Laena had never heard before.

She almost wanted to cover her ears from how loud it was but she knew that would look unseemly.

Her heart was pounding a mile a minute and she could feel herself beginning to come down from a high of adrenaline as her breathing evened out.

Her brothers had all gotten to their feet and were applauding madly even as the rest of the people in the stands did the same.

"That was incredible," Aemon said faintly and Laena knew that for the lord's performance to illicit such a reaction from her scholarly brother was truly a Herculean feat.

The applause continued as Lord Eddard removed his helm and ran his hand through his dark hair as if to shake loose the sweat from it and looked around at the crowd with a small grim smile on his face.

His eyes seemed to focus on Laena's then for a moment and she felt something tingle in her veins before she got to her feet to join her brother's in applauding.

 _I have a feeling that manoeuvre will be talked about for a long time after this,_ the blonde thought to herself.

"That was incredible," she heard her good sister say quietly to her left and little Baelor was fairly bouncing around from excitement.

"I knew he would win!" he said with glee.

After a moment of thunderous applause from the watching crowd, Lord Eddard calmly urged his horse forward to the royal box where the king was waiting to give him the victor's purse and where he would also receive the crown of flowers.

Laena felt her heart begin to pound even faster than when he had been riding towards Ser Arthur as the wreath passed into the wolf's hands.

 _I wonder who he will give it to,_ she thought to herself.

A part of her hoped that it would not be just anyone but she also felt a little envious at the thought of him giving the crown to someone else.

So she was utterly astonished at what he did next.

Eddard graciously accepted the purse of gold from the king and then smiled at the person who had presented him with the flower crown…and then turned and rode out of the arena.

There was a collective gasp from all those gathered as the quiet wolf rode away from the tourney grounds and Laena found herself astonished.

The crown of flowers had always been presented to a worthy lady or what was considered to be the most beautiful woman in the audience.

And Lord Eddard had crowned no one.

She looked around and could tell from the looks of shock in the stands that almost everyone else here was as surprised as she was that Lord Eddard had not chosen to give the crown of flowers to anyone.

Soon, the looks of surprise had faded to looks of disgruntlement and Laena had a feeling that some were put out that the northern lord might not feel anyone was worthy of the crown.

Elia meanwhile looked intrigued.

"I've heard interesting stories about the men of the north," she murmured to Laena. "They are said to be fierce in battle, loyal and honest to a fault and they hold their honor as high as the heavens."

"I am inclined to believe that all of that is true," the blonde replied.

"So then was it a demonstration of his honesty that the victor did not award the crown?" Elia asked as people slowly began to leave the stands, murmuring to each other and casting their eyes about as if to look for a glimpse of the winner of the tourney.

"I don't know," Laena said with a shrug. She was secretly glad that Ned had not crowned anyone though. "Perhaps he didn't feel that there was any woman here that deserved it."

"But that is somewhat…arrogant don't you think?" the Dornish princess asked. "There was no one here that he thought beautiful enough to merit it?"

Again Laena shrugged. "Perhaps not."

She watched as her brothers got to their feet, chattering excitedly about what they had seen and how they might want to employ the manoeuvre they had seen in the future.

As the royal family began to leave the stands and return to the keep with their guests, Laena couldn't help but give a small private smile.

She knew that that had been one of the most incredible jousts she had ever seen and she didn't even know how it had been completed.

And then Eddard had shocked them even further by refusing the crown of flowers to any woman there and had simply left, calmly riding out of the tourney grounds as if he had come there to simply win and then leave.

 _That's going to cause quite an upset for the next little while,_ Laena thought to herself. _I certainly hope that Lord Eddard has prepared himself for the hostile women plagued by Wrackspurts that are here. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned._

Ω

Later that afternoon while many of the residents of the keep had dispersed in order to go into the city or begin their long journey home, Laena had gone for a quiet walk alone to think about her conversation with Ned from the night before and the events of the tourney.

She was replaying what had happened at the conclusion of the tourney earlier and knew the rest of the keep was as well because for the last few hours all anyone could talk about was the stunt Lord Rickard's son had pulled atop his horse and how it had led to the defeat of one of the most famous knights in the seven kingdoms.

She knew her brother was very impressed as was said knight who had said he lost in a fair bout and was interested in learning more about where Ned had learned such a trick.

 _Well, the outcome might have been a little different if I hadn't tripped Ser Arthur up slightly,_ Laena thought.

On top of that, the victor seemed to have disappeared and no one had seen hide nor hair of him in hours.

She had just walked into the godswood, intending to sit down by the heart tree and think for a while when the silence she had enjoyed for the last ten minutes was disturbed.

"Your grace."

Laena looked up in surprise when she saw a familiar form standing before the heart tree. She smiled softly.

"How is it that we keep meeting like this?" she asked.

Ned's eyes twinkled as he looked at her but he didn't smile. "I know not your grace. It would seem that the godswood in this place is our favorite place to be."

"I agree," Laena said. "Why are you not back in the keep basking in the glory of your win? You won the tourney in the most incredible fashion I have ever seen. How on earth did you pull something like that off?"

"I'm not entirely sure," the quiet wolf replied. He ran a hand through his hair and offered her a somewhat bashful expression that she was surprised to see. "I suppose it was a feeling."

"A feeling?" she asked with a frown.

"I saw Ser Arthur's lance coming for my head," he explained as she neared him and then came to a stop. "And then a strong feeling came into my head, telling me to duck. I don't know how I managed it truly, but there was nowhere to go but back. I'm still not sure how I managed to get up again in the armor I had on. But I had a feeling going into the joust that it would not be simply a matter of avoiding his lance. I had to do something to surprise him."

"Well you certainly did that," Laena replied with a chuckle. "My brothers have not stopped talking about it for hours after it was over. And with your all but disappearance, no one else has stopped talking either. But where the men are talking about the joust…the women are rather disgruntled that you did not choose to name someone your queen of love and beauty. They were rather put out."

"Who is they?" Ned asked appearing somewhat amused.

Laena shrugged. "Everyone. I am certain after the way you won your joust every noblewoman there who wished to be named the queen of love and beauty suddenly had that wish accentuated at least ten times."

To her surprise Ned gave her a small smile. "Yes well…it was not my intention to give it to just anyone."

She missed his words completely as he had said them so softly. "I should say not and now all of them are put out because they are feeling you scorned them all, thinking them not good enough to be awarded the crown. I have a feeling you will be receiving a good many angry looks until you choose to leave the capital my lord."

Ned appeared unfazed. "Perhaps…you don't appear to be one of those who were put out however."

Laena chuckled. "I am not easily influenced by a crowd my lord. Also I think I was still trying to comprehend what I had seen to think too much about it."

"Well," he said and then suddenly reached into an inner pocket of his doublet. "I hope then that you will not be too easily influenced by this your grace."

Laena blinked in shock.

He was holding the crown of flowers in his hand and looking at her with an unfathomable expression in his grey eyes, the same expression he had employed before he had used the trick that had stunned the crowds at the tourney.

She opened her mouth but no sound came out.

Eddard took that as his cue to continue. "I hope you won't think me too forward your grace. But the reason that I did not crown any one woman as my queen of love and beauty was twofold."

"It was?" she asked somewhat faintly.

"Aye," he replied turning the crown over and over in his hands absently. "The first part was that it would be somewhat unseemly if I crowned the woman that I truly wished to in front of all those people. It would draw attention to the both of us that would be…questionable."

Laena could feel her heart beginning to pound in her chest as his words registered. "And the other reason?"

Ned offered her a faint smile. "I am somewhat of a private man your grace. When I make a gesture, I like it to be as private as possible. I simply wanted to wait for the proper time to give the crown."

"You did?" the princess asked in a quiet voice.

"Aye," he said staring into her violet eyes with his stormy grey ones. "I did. And now that no one else is around…I would name this the right time."

Before Laena could say anything else he took a few steps toward her until they were standing quite close.  
Her mouth suddenly began to feel dry and she swallowed hard.

"I am not much for eloquence your grace," he said quietly and the sound of his deep voice sent a thrill down her spine. "We of the north are used to plain speech and plain actions and I would do so now."

She didn't think she was able to say anything at that point.

"And in the plainest speech I can," he said, his voice growing even lower. "I would tell you…that it is you I would crown as my queen of love and beauty. But I think you know why I couldn't do so in front of an audience."

"I do," she somehow managed to say.

"I'm glad," he said softly before reaching out and gently placing the beautiful crown of purple and white flowers atop her silvery blonde locks. The fragrance of them surrounded her in a delicious halo of scents but at the moment, she couldn't bring herself to look at them as Eddard's eyes held her. "Because there is no one else I would have given it too."

Ω

 **So as is my usual practice, I usually select a celebrity to embody my main antagonist as it gives me a visual picture that allows me to think about them in certain situations. And so the person who I have chosen to play Laena in this story is Diane Kruger as she appeared in Troy, however with the silver hair of the Targaryens, though I don't know who is going to play a young Ned. Let me guys know what you think of who should play him Don't forget to review and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

With the conclusion of the tourney and the wedding, the flurry of activity in the keep died down to something that Laena would describe as manageable. Nobles began to leave the capital in slow waves and the princess would often look out her window and see a long line of wheelhouses and horses with armored men atop them plodding out through the gates of the city and onto the King's Road beyond.

She was relieved at the silence that had returned to the keep and the quiet that the nobles left in their wake as they departed.

Some of the most hotly talked about topics had included the prince and new princess's forgoing of the bedding ceremony in favor of a more private locale and thus snubbing all of the nobles in the keep, something which the king did nothing about except smirk along with the stunt that Lord Eddard had pulled at the tourney against Ser Arthur.

Laena's own brothers had not stopped chattering about the way in which the Stark lord had won the tourney and the princess had to suppress a smile every time she heard them chattering about it.

If they had been allowed to stay up past their bed times, she was certain they would have sought Eddard out and demanded answers for how he had been able to pull off that feat.

As it was, Baelor had been acting particularly smug lately….as smug as a boy of four years of age could be, claiming proudly to Laena that he knew "Ned would win the tourney."

How he knew this, Laena didn't know and she had no desire to find out whether or not her brother was capable of having prophetic dreams.

And speaking of the lord in question, Laena was surprised to find that he and his fellow ward Robert Baratheon had not left the capital yet. Apparently Lord Jon Arryn had some sort of business to conduct for her father of which she knew not, although Laena hoped that it would be concluded quickly so the three of them would be safely on their way.

It was never good in her experience for a lord to be around her father for too long and though Tywin Lannister had lasted longer than most, the day had in fact come when he could not be around the king any longer.

Jon Connington had taken the much unlamented place of the lion lord and was now doing his best to keep his head above water to keep up with her father's increasingly erratic demands.

Laena had already decided she liked the man no better than Tywin Lannister but for some very different reasons.

He was quiet and seemed to go about the keep with a keen eye, watching everyone with a sharp gaze.

Something the princess had noticed lately however was the lord's increasing attention to her twin. His eyes seemed to darken when talking to the prince and whenever Elia was around, Connington seemed to disregard her presence and only speak to Rhaegar.

Again, these were only feelings, but Laena had a feeling she needed to keep an eye on the new Hand before he did something strange or stupid.

 _That is someone that the Wrackspurts have gotten to before he could be rid of them,_ she thought to herself. _I'll need to watch his interactions a little more closely around Rhaegar to ensure that they haven't addled his brains. The last thing my brother needs right now is someone or something to distract him from Elia._

However, having his attention drawn from his new bride was hardly something that Rhaegar seemed capable of these days. He had a smile on his face the like of which Laena had never seen before and the weight he seemed to carry around in the weeks leading up to his wedding had dropped from his face and shoulders. There was a spring in his step again and Laena had seen him walking about the keep with Elia on his arm both of them with bright smiles on their faces, seeming completely satisfied.

Laena was glad for them and so was her mother. It was rare enough to find love in a marriage and Rhaegar and Elia seemed well on their way.

Since the Dornish princess was going to be a part of the Targaryen family, Laena had taken it upon herself to inform her good sister after the wedding about her magic and that it was she who had allowed them the device that they could use to escape the bedding ceremony.

Knowing that her brother was a private individual who did not glory in court life and intrigues, Laena knew he would benefit as much from the opportunity to escape as Elia would.

Needless to say, her good sister was extremely surprised and at a little wary at first but once Laena explained it all to her, she was more accepting of the phenomena.

As Luna Lovegood, the blonde had never had to explain her gifts to anyone as both her parents were magical and so were her friends and the rest of her extended family. It was odd having to live among Muggles who saw her gifts as somewhat god like.

She didn't even want to imagine what Ned would say if he knew.

And there she went thinking about him again.

Laena had carefully taken the crown of purple and white flowers back to her chambers after he had given them to her and disguised them before slipping them into a secret drawer in her desk. The last thing she wanted was for the servants and the maids to see it when the chambers were being cleaned and for gossip to ensue.

Every so often however, she would take them out and smell the sweetness on them. The flowers wouldn't remain fresh forever, but she intended to press them into a blank book in order to keep them forever.

As it was, she had the memory of Ned giving them to her to brighten her up whenever she was in a bad mood in the future.

Ned…

Gods, when did things become so complicated?

 _There may be no Nargles here but there are definitely Wrackspurts here that can exist across time and space and the last thing that needs to happen is for one of them to begin messing with my head. Gods know the king has enough of them circling him without me or my brothers or my mother getting any._

But Wrackspurts aside, Laena was feeling a little sad today and she had a feeling it had more to do with what was going to happen later than those pesky parasites.

Jon Arryn and his two wards were leaving today.

Even though the old eagle had stayed for a few days longer than he had intended to with the heir to Storm's End and the second son of Lord Rickard, he had concluded his business for the king and was leaving with his retinue in a few hours.

Laena had not seen Ned since he had given her the crown of flowers and of course she had told no one about the incident so the mystery of what the quiet wolf had done with the crown would remain exactly that.

No one needed to know after all.

But on this last day, Laena was sitting in the godswood with her little brother Baelor who had insisted that he wanted to play with his ball in the place.

The two of them were tossing it back and forth not saying anything and judging by the somewhat lacklustre motion of Baelor's thrown motion, Laena had a feeling that something was bothering him.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

The little boy shrugged his shoulders. "Everyone's leaving."

"Everyone?" Laena asked raising an eyebrow. "I'm here, so is mother and Rhaegar and Elia and Viserys, Daeron, Aemon and Vhagar. That doesn't seem like everyone to me."

Baelor nodded and swung his legs back and forth from the bench before the heart tree. "I know."

"Well then what's wrong?"

Her little brother kept on swinging his legs and staring down at the ground with that curiously blank expression that Laena knew was his way of trying not to get upset.

"Baelor," she said gently in the tone that their mother always used when she was trying to find out something. "Will you please tell me what's wrong?"

He was silent for a little longer before letting out a sigh that seemed to suck the air from his small frame like he was a toad slowly deflating.

Watching him reminded Laena of a different time when she had gone into the Forbidden Forest to collect the snow drops that the Nargles had left behind and had seen a toad by the edge of one of the creeks there. It had been so still on one of the rocks that she had paused in stride to look at it in fascination. She was further surprised to see a stream of water jump from the toads mouth as if he had swallowed some of the water from the creek and back into the stream. The toad had slowly deflated as if he were a balloon being stepped on and Luna had watched until he was empty before carrying on her way.

It had been an odd visual sensation.

"It's just," Baelor said, somehow lowering his head even lower and his tone becoming even quieter so that she could barely hear him. "I was hoping that Ned would stay longer."

Laena blinked and stared at her little brother for a long time before she felt a small smile start to form on her lips.

"I didn't realize you were going to miss him that much," she said and her brother absently picked up a rock sitting next to him on the bench and absently tossed it onto the ground.

"Ned doesn't think I'm a baby," he said somewhat sullenly and Laena blinked.

"Who calls you a baby?"

"Daeron, and Vhagar."

Laena sighed and closed her eyes. Sometimes the eldest and youngest of the triplets had a flare for theatrics and took it out on Baelor as he was the smallest target. Having never had this many brothers anymore, it was a new experience dealing with the many different personalities and dynamics.

This was one such time.

"I know that this bothers you," she said. "But soon you'll be as big as they are and be able to learn sword fighting and riding and archery just like they are. Soon enough you'll be so busy that you won't have to worry about what anyone thinks anymore."

Baelor nodded again, but his eyes were still on the ground making Laena think that he wasn't quite convinced yet.

Suddenly an idea came to her.

"Would you like it if you were able to visit Ned even after he leaves?" she asked lowering her voice exponentially.

That seemed to do the trick.

Baelor turned to her, his violet eyes wide. "How would I be able to do that?"

Laena knew it was a little selfish but she sort of wanted to visit Ned too even after he had gone and if using her magic was the way to go about it well, then so be it.

Besides, Baelor had proven that he could keep a secret well enough. He had surprised his sister by never mentioning the times that he and her had spent with Ned to anyone and Laena knew for a fact that her mother would have confronted her if he had.

Excluding Aemon, Viserys, Daeron and Vhagar did not know how to keep their mouths shut about anything.

Viserys was very proud of his Valyrian ancestry and would talk about it to anyone whether it was asked for or not.

Daeron and Vhagar…well they just liked to talk.

So that was what compelled Laena to do what she did next.

She leaned forward on the bench and looked her little brother in the eye. "Can you keep a secret?"

The littlest dragon nodded so vigorously for a moment the princess feared that his head would fall from his neck.

"Good," she said. "Because I have a way that we can visit Ned in the Eyrie and see the Mountains of the Moon whenever we want to."

Baelor's eyes went so large then that Laena wondered if they might fall out of his head. "You do?"

His sister chuckled. "I do. And we don't have to take any horses or bring any guards. In fact, mother doesn't even have to know that we're gone."

Baelor appeared as if he had seen a dragon for the first time. "How can you do that?"

Laena took a deep breath and leaned forward so she could whisper in her brother's ear. "Magic."

Baelor was now trembling like a leaf. "But magic doesn't exist! It died with the dragons! That's why there aren't any more."

Someone had been paying attention in their lessons.

Laena smiled. "Magic doesn't depend solely on dragons you know? I can see you need to learn more about what happened in this country before the Targaryens came to it…and before the Andals even."

"You mean about the First Men?" Baelor asked. "And the Age of Heroes?"

"Exactly," the princess replied. "After all if magic is tied solely to the dragons and their disappearance is the reason that it isn't here anymore, than how is it that the Wall has remained standing after all this time?"

Baelor's little face scrunched up as he pondered the answer to her question and then he finally shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."

"That's because magic doesn't depend solely on the dragons little brother," Laena said. "Magic has been particularly heavy in the north and perhaps one day we can go and see why. Their gods are different than the Seven are and in my opinion…a little friendlier."

"Really?" Baelor asked.

"Indeed," his sister said.

"Do they have names?"

Laena frowned. "I don't know. No one has ever mentioned their names but I would like to find out."

"Maybe when we go north to see Ned he can tell us," Baelor said with some excitement.

It was then that Laena glanced up and happened to see a familiar figure standing at the edge of the godswood watching the both of them and she smiled and glanced down at her hands. "Or perhaps you can ask him now yourself little brother."

Baelor frowned. "What do you mean?"

Laena gestured with her chin. "He's standing right over there."

Baelor turned around so fast, Laena winced in sympathy for his neck.

"Ned!" he said when he saw the familiar quiet wolf come closer and hopped off the bench before hurrying towards him.

"Hello your grace," Ned replied as he stepped into the godswood and out of sight of the rest of those who might be watching from outside.

It was then that Laena noticed the cloak about his shoulders and the sword at his waist which indicated traveling.

So did Baelor.

"Are you leaving now?" he asked, looking a bit said.

"Aye," Ned said. "I am to return to the Eyrie for the next few months before heading north once more."

"Will you be back soon?" Baelor asked hopefully.

Ned gave him a small smile but Laena could see that his mirth was mostly in his eyes. "I don't know your grace. Perhaps."

Baelor sighed. "That's what Laena said too. She said I would need to wait."

"The princess is a wise woman your grace," Ned said with kindness in his eyes as he looked at the littlest prince.

Baelor rolled his eyes. "That's what everyone says. That I need to listen to my sister and my mother because they know what's best for me."

Ned chuckled before bending down in front of the four year old and looking him the eye. "That is true. But I very much doubt that they would not allow you to have any fun of your own. Princess Laena seems the type to allow you to have more fun than most."

Baelor sighed. "Maybe. I just wish I could leave the capital and see more. I never go anywhere in the city. And it always smells!"

Ned's chuckles continued, a deep rumble in his throat that sent shivers down Laena's spine as she watched them.

"Well than how would this be your grace," he said and he had Baelor's attention right away. "When you are a little older, old enough to ride your own horse on your own, you come to Winterfell? And that will be our formal invitation."

Baelor's eyes lit up like two purple stars. "Really?"

Ned smiled. "Truly. But you need to be able to ride your own horse first. Can you do that?"

Baelor nodded so hard Laena feared his head would fall off for a moment. "Yes Ned I can! I can do it!"

"Good," the quiet wolf replied. "Because when you come to see me in Winterfell I want to be able to see you riding one from the gate house. Is that a promise?"

"Yes," Baelor said eagerly. "I promise and I swear until I die or the Nargles come to take me away to fly!"

Ned looked confused for a moment. "What does that mean?"

"Oh it's a promise that Laena and I made up a while ago."

"I see," Eddard said before looking up at Laena with a tiny smile who was watching the entire exchange with amusement.

"Come now Baelor you've said your goodbyes," Laena called to her brother gently. "We need to let Lord Eddard go. He wouldn't want to keep the rest of his companions waiting."

Baelor pouted for a moment before seeming to rally and then to their great surprise, he threw his arms around Ned's neck and squeezed him as tightly as a four year old could.

Laena could sense Ned's shock from the gesture by the way that he blinked three times. He brushed it off a moment later by smiling and returning the gesture briefly.

A moment later Baelor let go and Laena smiled at him. "Why don't you go wait by the heart tree little brother? I need to bid Lord Eddard farewell too."

The small blonde nodded before skipping back over to the white tree and looking up at its face as if he hadn't a care in the world.

Laena shook her head in amusement and then got up off the bench before walking over to the quiet wolf who stood at least half a head taller than she was.

"I never did say thank you," she said softly and he raised an eyebrow at her. "Thank you for what your grace?"

"I think you know," Laena said and she saw from the way his stormy eyes darkened slightly that he did know.

"It was honor," he replied softly and Laena smiled. "And it was my honor to receive them."

He looked at her for a long time as if he was memorizing every inch of her face and was silent for so long that Laena almost wanted to squirm beneath his gaze.

"The invitation extended to the prince your grace was meant for you as well," he said finally and to her horror, she could feel her cheeks begin to burn which no doubt showed through very well in her marble like complexion.

"It was?" she asked, scrambling for words somewhat.

"It was," he said calmly before he reached down and took her hand and placed a gentle kiss across her knuckles. "After all the prince cannot come on his own."

Laena snorted softly as it allowed her some distraction from her face which was most likely thoroughly red at this point. "Don't think that he wouldn't if he was allowed. He would never make it out of the city no doubt."

Ned gave a short laugh. "Don't underestimate him princess. He is a precocious child that seems to like a challenge. He may just surprise you if given the opportunity. Farewell."

He turned to leave but was stopped when Laena caught his hand in both of hers. He paused for a moment and then turned back, his handsome face looking at her with polite question.

Laena took a deep breath, wondering if she should do this and then deciding that there were ways for knowing whether or not she was being watched. So she went ahead.

"Ned may I…may I write to you?" she asked somewhat shyly.

The response of the second son of Lord Rickard was only to blink twice, an indication that Laena now knew to mean surprise.

He looked at her for a long moment, his grey eyes searching her violet ones with surprising focus. "Of course your grace. But would not my letters arriving from the Eyrie be noticed by eyes other than yours in the capital?"

He was even more astute than she realized.

Laena looked at him smugly. "I wouldn't worry about that my lord. I have my own ways for ensuring that letters addressed to me are not read."

His gaze intensified for a moment. "You are certain."

"Aye, I am."

"Very well then," he said. "I will await your letter. Farewell your grace."

"Farewell Lord Stark."

He gave her a brief bow and then strode off through the trees. Laena watched until he had disappeared from sight before she smiled to herself and turned back to the small dragon who seemed to be looking at the heart tree just a little too intently.

"Baelor?" she asked sternly. "You didn't hear anything did you?"

Her little brother knew her well enough by now on how to answer that question. "Not if you didn't want me to."

Laena smiled smugly at him. "Good."

Ω

 _Well now…now that the Nargles have departed from the city, the Red Keep is a much nicer place to be._

A few weeks or so later and all of the wedding guests had departed back from the capital to their respective keeps and holdfasts and Laena could not help but be a little relieved at the departure of some of them.

Mace Tyrell and his sisters were the last to depart along with their formidable mother and the dragon princess was a little relieved to see them gone.

There had been far too many nobles here that were more interested in impressing her father and gaining more power and making more alliances than she was comfortable with.

It was of course the Game of Thrones, a game that had been played by her ancestors for centuries and would no doubt continue to be played long after she was gone.

Power was the most powerful seductress after all, but she chose not to think on that right now.

All in all the wedding festivities had taken nearly two moons with the great many nobles arriving, tourneys, feasts every night and then the wedding in the middle followed by more feasting and frolicking.

It was bloody exhausting.

On top of everything that was going on, she had to deal with her increasing attraction to Ned, keeping an eye on Baelor and an even closer one on her father and then to have been blind sided with her brother's dreams and visions as well as Ned's news that the wilding raids had been getting steadily more consistent well…let us just say that multitasking was Laena's strong suit.

Thankfully though things seemed to have calmed down for the moment and even King Aerys appeared to be on his best behaviour.

Given the knowledge that there was no longer any image to keep up on her mother's part that they were a happy and healthy family, some of the stress was off of Rhaella's shoulders as well.

There were only two things that added to Laena's unease that hadn't completely gone away.

The first was that she too had been having odd dreams lately. They weren't very long perhaps only lasting for a moment or so. But what struck her was that it seemed like she was only given pictures that lasted for a brief second before the sequence would switch to someone else.

And they were pictures of certain landscapes, not people which was even more frustrating as it meant she needed to guess what they were about.

She only really had two a night but they were aggravating enough to interrupt her sleep patterns and make her tired.

 _Damn Wrackspurts._

Most often, her dreams were of the Wall. But it was nothing that she was seeing, it was more what she wasn't seeing.

Laena would see the Wall at a particular angle and then all of a sudden the dream would change to another picture of the Wall at a different angle than the first one.

Sometimes she would see Castle Black in these pictures. There were even times when she would be given a picture of the overhead view of the castle. It was as if she were a bird flying over it and could see nearly every man of the Night's Watch. Some were training, others were walking back and forth along the top of the Wall and still others were standing off to the side of the training yard and conferring amongst themselves in voices she could not hear.

The dreams were not frightening or even startling, but it was like whoever or whatever was the result of the dreams seemed to be giving her the sort of pieces to a maddening puzzle that was impossible to solve.

She knew her dreams had something to do with the Night's Watch and perhaps the Others, but she had no proof and outside of her brother's own dreams which had suddenly ceased, no one knew what an Other looked like as none had been sighted for thousands of years.

It was maddening.

Coupled with this was something that hadn't been weighing on her quite as much, but it had been on her mind.

Ned.

Despite herself, she did miss him. He had begun as a sort of distraction and she was certain she had been the same for him but over the course of the wedding festivities and the tourney, he had come to be a friend to Laena. He was a friend that she didn't truly understand but she did understand her growing attraction to him, the gentle way he spoke and his calm but intense eyes and powerful presence as evidence of something that was becoming bigger than she thought it would be.

She had waited almost three quarters of a moon after Eddard, Baratheon and Lord Arryn had left the capital before she had written to him. So far no letter had been written back in response but she was trying not to think about it.

Baelor had also wanted to write to Ned and Laena had told him that that was fine but that he would need to write his letters in her chambers and then give them to her afterwards so that they could send them at one time and no one would know.

Baelor had wanted to know why it was that no one could know about their friendship with Ned and Laena had explained in the best way that she thought possible…without mentioning the Wrackspurts that was…that it might be seen as inappropriate if it were known that she was writing to a friend who was a male and she herself was unwed.

Baelor had seemed to understand but she could also tell that he thought it was a little silly.

To be honest, she did too.

Laena had had a few good male friends when she had been Luna Lovegood like Terry Boot and Anthony Goldstein and she had written to them all the time when she had been in school but now it seen as unnaceptable for an unwed woman to be in contact with a man who was also unmarried.

She still didn't understand it…but then there were many things about this life that wouldn't make a lot of sense to her.

Her mind was thirty four years old and yet there would be things about this society that Laena didn't think she would ever understand.

And speaking of not understanding things, Baelor had not forgotten about what she had told him earlier about magic.

Laena had been wondering about how to tell him when she hadn't even told Daeron, Aemon and Vhagar yet, but she had always been closer to Baelor as she had had a hand in raising him more than the triplets.

So first she made him promise that what she was about to tell him could never be told to another living soul. Rhaegar and Rhaella both knew anyway but that was beside the point. The point was to ensure that her little brother could keep a secret.

Baelor had nodded and then Laena had proceeded to show him some of the things that she able to do, causing his mouth to fall open and his eyes to appear as if they were going to fall out of his head in surprise.

He had had a good many questions about all of it and Laena had patiently explained each one that he had until her little brother had no more questions.

Needless to say it was a time of discovery for them both.

And speaking of discoveries, Laena chanced upon a new one about a moon after the nobles had left the keep.

She was sitting on the terrace of one of the gardens in the keep looking over the sea with Elia and the two were enjoying a light luncheon. Since the wedding and Rhaegar's revelation with Laena's blessing of course to Elia about her magic, the Dornish girl and the princess had grown a good deal closer.

Elia was a very sweet girl which threw into sharp relief just how awful and shrewish and how much of a harridan that Cersei Lannister had been.

Laena could only thank the gods that her brother had not ended up with the likes of her.

The two were sitting quietly with Ser Jaime a short distance away when Elia suddenly spoke up.

"May I ask you something Laena?"

The dragon princess looked at her. "Of course you may."

Elia glanced down at her feet for a moment as if she were wrestling with herself about something before looking up at her good sister with golden eyes burning with questions. "Does you magic make you more…aware?"

Laena frowned. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean."

Elia sighed. "What I am trying to say, is that if there a way to know things due to your magic without someone telling you first?"

"You mean like reading minds?"

"In a way."

Laena's frown deepened. "I am certain there are ways for doing that, but I've never aspired to learn them and they would simply be an invasion of other people's privacy. I've never aspired to learn something like that."

It was true. Although she had known of Legilimency and Occlumency in her first life, the blonde had never really had a desire to learn them. Mental magic was something that was very tenuous and complicated and she didn't have to look into the minds of other students to know that almost all of them thought she was crazy.

Looney Lovegood they had called her.

But they had all been infested with Nargles…every single last one of them.

"I see," Elia said. She still looked as if there was something on her mind and Laena paused in her stride so she might look her good sister in the eye. "Elia is something wrong?"

"Not that I am aware of," the other princess said evasively.

"What does that mean?"

"It's just a feeling," Elia went on. She appeared frustrated, as if this was something she had thought of and tried to figure out before but had never succeeded. "I cannot explain it, I just feel as if something…is different…changed."

Laena narrowed her eyes at her. "Changed how?"

"I've been feeling…not myself lately," Elia tried to explain. "There are times when I feel ill as if I have eaten some spoiled food and then there are times when I feel extreme fatigue but I don't know why."

"Have you sought out a maester?"

"I would never go to Pycelle," Elia said with such vehemence that Laena looked at her in surprise. "Why not?"

"Because I do not trust him. The man plays a role when he walks about the keep. He appears to be a doddering, simpering old fool and yet there is an intelligence in his eyes when he speaks which leads me to believe that he is not all what he seems."

Laena's eyes narrowed. "Have you learned anything else?"

"Not yet. At the moment I have only my own suspicions but for the time being, they are enough."

"Very well," Laena went on. "Have you seen any maester at all?"

"Not yet," Elia said. "I…I am afraid."

Laena felt herself soften. "What are you afraid of?"

Elia sighed. "You remember the story I told you a while ago about how I was ill all the time when I was young?"

"I do."

"Perhaps its foolish but I cannot help but feel this might be a sign of the illness returning and I am terrified that it might be true."

Laena frowned for a moment. "And you say that your symptoms are nausea, fatigue and tiredness?"

"Yes."

It was then that Laena began to laugh.

Elia looked at her in bewilderment for a moment. "And just what in the name of the Seven is so funny Laena?"

The dragon princess stopped laughing and looked her sister in the eye. "Elia have you ever considered the possibility that you might be with child?"

Elia's golden eyes went wide and Laena could tell that the thought had never crossed her mind. "But…But it's so early!"

Laena shrugged. "Every pregnancy is different and every woman experiences it differently. My mother didn't get her morning sickness with Rhaegar and myself until she was nearly four months along. But with Baelor she got it right away. Symptoms vary depending on the woman and the child."

Instantly Elia's nervous expression faded to one of bright joy and Laena smiled at her. "Do you think it could be true?"

"I think you won't know anything until you go and see a maester," the princess said shrewdly. "Or don't you want to know?"

Elia looked hesitant. "But what if it is the return of my old illness?"

"Then it is better that you know now," Laena said gently. "But in my personal opinion, I don't think you have anything to worry about."

Elia sighed and nodded before raising the glass of sweet fruit juice in her hand towards her sister as if in a toast. "To the news of an expected to child."

Laena raised her own in response. "And to the hope that there will be many more to follow it."

Ω

Another two days passed in which Laena didn't see Elia at all, but she wasn't worried much. Her new sister and her brother had been spending a good deal of time together which made his younger sister happy.

She was glad that her brother and Elia had a healthy marriage in which they wanted nothing more than to talk all the time

 _I can only hope that I will find one like that someday_

On the second day of her not seeing Elia and only seeing a few members of her family in the keep…came Laena's worst dream yet.

And it once more began with the Wall.

But this time, it didn't show her flying above the Wall and looking down into a specific place as it so often did.

No this time…this time she was in one of the castles itself…and she had no idea which one it was.

 _It was cold…so very cold and she had no cloak to mask the chill of it.  
_

 _When Laena opened her eyes it was to the sight of a blue white room in which there were very high ceilings, sheer walls made of what appeared to be ice.  
_

 _When the princess turned around however, she was baffled to see what appeared to be the remains of a kitchen behind her. There were still stone shelves with the odd wooden spoon or stone pot on them, which made her think that perhaps this place wasn't as abandoned as it seemed.  
_

Where the bloody hell am I?! _She thought frantically to herself._ I know I am somewhere far north, it could not be this thrice damned cold otherwise. _  
_

 _She forced her eyes to look about the room, searching for some sort of exit.  
_

 _It was then that she began to take in details and her eyes widened in surprise.  
_

 _The room itself was in a sort of octagonal design that appeared incredibly ancient. Along with the few odd shelves here and there and to her surprise, there was a hole in one of the walls in which a twisted weirwood tree was growing through. Against the stark whiteness and coldness of the place around her, its leaves appeared like drops of blood against the surroundings that sent a chill through her such as she had never known before.  
_

 _Laena continued looking around and it was then that she noticed something strange.  
_

 _In the center of the kitchen against the very wall itself that seemed to be connected to the frozen ice that was the Wall was what appeared to be a gateway.  
_

 _But it was like no gateway she had ever seen before.  
_

 _And the longer she looked at it the colder she became until she thought she might turn into an ice statue.  
_

 _It appeared to be made of the wood of a weirwood tree as the stark white wood could come from nothing else.  
_

 _It was also enormous, perhaps if she were standing on Rhaegar's shoulders and reaching with her arms above her head she might have been able to reach the very top of it.  
_

 _But that wasn't the most alarming part.  
_

 _What caused her breath to hitch in her throat was the fact that there was a face carved into the wood. It was an ancient face that was pale, shrunken and wrinkled. It appeared to be the face of a man who had lived far too long and suffered from too many horrors. Its eyes were closed and for that Laena was thankful. She had a terrible feeling that if she were to look into its eyes for too long, she might go mad.  
_

 _And then the entire room turned upside down.  
_

 _She blinked dizzily and reeled back in shock to find that she was standing only a few feet from the door with no idea how she had gotten there. As far as she knew she hadn't moved an inch and now here she was, steps away from that terrible face that she never wanted to be so far away from.  
_

 _And then the eyes opened…and the door began to glow.  
_

 _Laena let out a startled cry and fought to move back but then realized in a panic that she could not move her feet.  
_

 _The eyes of the face were just as white as the rest of the door and Laena looked down at her feet, terrified of looking into the eyes of winter for too long.  
_

 _And then as if that wasn't enough…the mouth of the face opened…and began to speak.  
_

 _"Who…are…you?"  
_

 _The voice was halting and creaky as if it measured each word that it spoke with care and caution for fear of saying the wrong thing. It was also ancient and powerful and terrifying beyond words.  
_

 _And Laena knew then that she was in the presence of something with magic far more powerful than her own.  
_

 _Unbidden words leapt to her lips and sprang forth…words she had never heard before and didn't know how she was saying…but she said them anyway. She couldn't stop herself.  
_

 _And this was what she said.  
_

 _"I am the Watcher on the Walls…I am the fire that burns against the cold…the light that brings the dawn…the horn that wakes the sleepers…I am the shield that guards the realms of men."  
_

 _The words had power and yet from what she didn't know. All she knew was that she had said them without knowing why or where they came from.  
_

 _But they had come all the same.  
_

 _There was a long silence between the end of her words and what came next…but in the moment there was a slight trembling throughout what was left of the old kitchen.  
_

 _Laena glanced up at the face and then stiffened in terror when she saw that the mouth was not moving anymore…it was opening.  
_

 _"Then…pass."  
_

 _And then the mouth opened even wider…so wide in fact that nothing remained but a mass of wrinkles framing a great gaping maw…and between that…there was nothing but blackness._

And then Laena came awake in her bed…screaming in terror.

Ω

 **So I think we all know where Luna was, but then you guys can talk about it it the comments if you'd like lol ;) Elia's pregnant earlier because I want to speak the story along somewhat and that can only happen when she has a baby. Dreams will be discussed in the coming chapters and Laena and Ned will be meeting up again. In the meantime, that's all for now. Don't forget to review and enjoy!**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Laena's first response after she had come awake with such a frightful jerk was to fly up from her bed and seize hold of the nearest parchment that was available to her. After snatching up a quill and all but spearing the ink pot with it on her desk she drove quill to paper and began to record everything she could remember.

She had had no idea where she had been in the dream other than the fact that it was bitterly cold.

 _The north,_ she thought to herself as she wrote, _I couldn't have been anywhere but the north. Nowhere else would be that freezing. And the room made of ice that went up and up….perhaps I was at the Wall._

This realization was enough to make her stop and her breath catch in shock. If she was at the Wall than this must have been more than a dream…the doorway she had seen must have been at the Wall itself.

 _It seems that I will be writing to Ned sooner than I thought,_ Laena mused to herself grimly. _If anyone knows what this gateway is, it would be him. The Starks are always right, winter is coming and now I have a feeling as to the matter that it will be soon._

The moment she had finished recording her dream, Laena sat back at her desk and let out an exhausted sigh. She didn't know why but she felt drained.

 _That dream was the cause of something far deadlier than the Wrackspurts,_ she thought to herself. _They can influence emotion, not dreams._

Prophecy had always been strangely intertwined with Laena's family even before she had come to Westeros as a Targaryen.

Pandora Lovegood had been a seer and so had seen things that many people might call ludicrous.

Laena had a feeling that if she were to tell this dream to anyone but her mother, her twin or Ned that she might be being treated by Grand Maester Pycelle for madness.

 _I need to figure out what this means,_ she thought determinedly to herself. _And why I keep having these strange dreams and visions. I certainly hope I don't take after Denys the Dreamer. I have no desire to be tormented by things I don't understand._

Laena remained restless for nearly an hour after she had put her dream onto parchment and spent almost all the time pacing back and forth, wondering what on earth she had dreamed that dream for.

It wasn't a coincidence.

It couldn't have been.

Could it?

 _I need to talk to Rhaegar,_ Laena thought to herself as she paused in the midst of pacing, _as soon as it is first light out. I also need to talk to Ned. If this peculiar relationship we have is going to continue than perhaps I even need to go to the Vale to speak with him. My magic would have come into play soon enough and perhaps I will bring Baelor with me. He will want to see Ned and it may make the mood less tense when I say what I need to._

Questions….there were so many questions that she had and so few answers. All of her dreams lately had to do with the Wall and the fact that the wildling raids had increased.

Ned had been very specific on that.

 _Something wicked this way comes,_ a dreamy voice in her mind murmured. It was a cold voice however, as cold and dreary as snow.

She shivered.

Needless to say, Laena did not sleep for the rest of the night and merely lay awake tossing and turning for hours.

When the grey light of dawn began to creep into the capital and her room she knew she could lie about no longer and rose, bathed and dressed.

Laena knew her lack of sleep was going to get to her, but for that moment she was running on pure adrenaline.

The moment she had written a brief letter to Ned and sent it off via her private raven, she asked a servant to find her brother and let him know that she wished to speak with him.

He wasn't long in coming.

"Laena?" he asked when he came in and blinked upon seeing the look on her face. "Is something the matter?"

His twin took a deep breath, "sit down Rhaegar. There is something that I need to tell you."

Rhaegar's deep violet eyes stared into hers but after a moment he sat down in the chair by her desk while she seated herself on her bed. "What is it?"

"Have you dreams increased over the last few weeks?" she asked.

Rhaegar blinked. "No, in fact that they've dropped off entirely. My sleep has been surprisingly undisturbed. It's been very….strange."

Laena gave him a grim smile. "I am sorry to report that our night visions have exchanged then. My own dreams have become more and more vivid as the last few weeks have carried on."

The blood drained from Rhaegar's face. "What are they of?"

Laena took a deep breath and twisted her hands together a few times before somehow managing to look up into her twin's face.

"When I open my eyes, I am not on a field of ice looking out into a blistering wind of snow and sleet and storm. Instead I am standing in a cavern made of ice with a ceiling so high that I cannot see the top. For some reason I think I am low underground because the ground feels somewhat warm, but the air is freezing. And it is then that I realize that I am somewhere far to the north, perhaps the Wall."

Rhaegar's face was now as white as the snow she remembered seeing in her dream. "Go on."

"There are a few rotting shelves and metal cabinets in this room and the first thing that comes to mind when I see it are that this is the remains of an old kitchen. I have no idea what a kitchen was doing this far underground but when I turn around, I see something that renders this irrelevant."

"What was it?" Rhaegar asked leaning forward.

Laena swallowed hard and had to clear her throat several times in order to speak as the terror that she had felt upon seeing that ancient effigy was fully affecting her now.

"It is a door," she whispered in a voice as soft as blowing snow. "It is a tall white door. And carved into the very middle of it….is a face."

"A face?" her brother asked in a voice that was just as soft.

Laena nodded and twisted her hands together almost into a knot. "There was a white face in the door, it was terrible but its eyes were closed and I had a feeling that if the eyes were open than I might be staring into the face of insanity itself."

Rhaegar was as white as a sheet at this point but he didn't take his eyes from hers and in his marble face, his violet eyes stood out like two purple stars. "And then?"

"I stepped closer to it, it was as if I couldn't move away or even stand where I was because there was some force drawing me towards it. I wanted to run, I wanted to hide my face but I could do neither. All I could do was stand there….waiting."

A long and heavy silence filled the chamber and Laena closed her eyes, recalling every moment of her dream in excruciating fear and the terrible fear she had felt upon seeing that door, the unfounded knowledge but ghastly awareness that there was something on the other side of the door…something waiting to be let in.

"Keep going Laena," her twin prodded in a whisper.

Though she didn't want to, she nodded and continued. "The moment I was as close to the door as I could possibly get which seemed to happen in the blink of an eye, there was a long silence…and then the eyes of the face in the door opened."

Rhaegar flinched slightly. "And?"

"And just like the rest of the door which I am certain was carved from a heart tree which we know is stark white, its eyes were white as well. There were no pupils in those terrible orbs but I couldn't help but feel as if they were focusing on me as I was the only one in the room. And then the entire door began to glow."

"It did?"

"Yes, and finally its mouth opened and it spoke."

Rhaegar all but choked on the sip of wine he had taken and lowered the goblet to the table of the desk with trembling hands. "What did it say?"

"It….It asked me who I was. But instead of telling it my actual name…Laena Targaryen. strange words leapt from my tongue…words that I had never heard before and would never utter."

"What were they?"

Laena then closed her eyes and repeated the words that she would never forget until her dying day. "I am the watcher on the walls….I am the fire that burns against the cold…the light that brings the dawn….the horn that wakes the sleepers. I am the shield that guards the realms of men."

Rhaegar had gone very still upon hearing those words and Laena noticed that his hands trembled no more. "Then what happened?"

"And then the door opened. Its mouth became a great gaping maw that swallowed up all of its face and nothing remained but a mass of wrinkles framing that maw…and between that was nothing but blackness."

And then for the second time that morning, both Targaryen siblings were completely silent.

After a long time though Rhaegar spoke. "I know those words, the words you spoke to the door in your dream."

Laena stared at him for a long moment and then sighed. "I had a feeling you would. I have a feeling I know what they are too."

Rhaegar sighed. "Now I am not entirely certain, but it sounds like something the men of the Night's Watch would say as it all fits with a pledge they are to give before they take the Black for the rest of their lives. Also the Watchers on the wall is a dead giveaway that those words belong to the men of the Night's Watch."

"I had figured as much," Laena sighed. "The light that brings the dawn is another giveaway as is the fire that burns against the cold."

"I know nothing for certain," Rhaegar said. "But things are about to change in the realm Laena and the Game of Thrones might soon be coming to a swift and decisive end if what we both fear comes to fruition."

"Gods, I don't even want to think about _that,_ " Laena muttered. "Right now everything that we fear is happening in our dreams. Isn't it possible that it is simply that…bad dreams?"

She knew she was grasping at straws but the thought of facing something terrible like what she had seen in her earlier dreams as Rhaegar had was turning her very blood to ice. She was desperate for some reassurance.

The look on Rhaegar's face told her that she wasn't going to get it. "You and I both have never been idealistic sweet sister. We live in a family that exists on cold hard realism…that's not going to change. And I have a feeling that this won't either. These dreams mean something…and we need to know what that is."

She sighed. "I know."

Rhaegar sighed. "Then we need to know who to go to for answers because we aren't going to find any here."

Laena swallowed hard. "There is someone who I can go to who might know more about this."

Rhaegar looked at her in confusion for a moment before understanding cleared his handsome face to an expression of clarity. "Are you certain Laena? You will have to use your magic to go to him…and he doesn't know about it. Are you sure he will be accepting of it?"

"I am not certain of anything at this point," Laena replied. "But I do know that Lord Eddard's character will not allow him to judge me until he sees a wicked deed for himself and despite how unorthodox this is, my magic is not evil. In fact he may be even more accepting of it than we think as the north is a place of strong magic and the Wall itself cannot have been built by men alone."

"This is true."

"Then we are in agreement," Laena said. "I will go to the Vale and speak with Ned about my dreams and see if he knows more about this gate and what opening it could mean not just for the north but for all of Westeros."

Rhaegar nodded carefully. He knew Laena had never been to the Vale but all she would need to do is go to the library and find a picture of it in a book to go there. "When will you leave and when will you be back?"

"I will leave tonight," Laena replied. "And I will be back by the morning. As long as no one knows that I am gone then I will have all the time in the world to get all the information that I need."

Rhaegar nodded. "Good. But what happens if Lord Eddard is as clueless about this as we are? What if he doesn't know what this means or doesn't think it means anything? Sister all we have right now is loose ends and more questions than we have answers. If this is in fact premonition of what is to come….do you think it possible that we will have to go to this place and see for ourselves?"

There was a feeling of ice water in Laena's veins and she looked up at her brother with a grim sobriety on her face that Rhaegar had never seen before. "I don't know. And that is the most frightening answer of all."

Rhaegar ran a hand through his unruly silver hair and then buried his face in his hands. "Very well. I should get back to Elia, in spite of all this ominous information there has at least been one good piece of news."

Laena frowned. "And that is?"

Rhaegar gave his twin a small smile. "Elia is with child."

For the first time that morning Laena smiled. "That's wonderful Rhaegar. Have the maesters confirmed it?"

"They have. Apparently she went to them yesterday. Though she is only a moon or so along, there will be an heir to the throne or a Targaryen princess on the way."

Laena reached out and hugged her twin. "I am happy for you brother. No doubt Elia is over the moon."

"She is," Rhaegar replied and for a moment his eyes seemed to go far away to another time and place. "She's always wanted children and I have no doubt that she will make a wonderful mother."

"No doubt you will make a wonderful father as well."

To her surprise Rhaegar glanced down at his knotted hands, a curious blush turning his marble skin crimson. "I hope so."

Laena gave him a slight frown. "Is something wrong?"

Rhaegar sighed. "Not exactly. Perhaps its just my own insecurities showing."

"What are you insecure about?" Laena asked.

"You cannot deny that I am awfully young to become a parent," Rhaegar replied. "By the time this child will be born I will have only turned eight and ten. Am I ready for this?"

Laena chuckled, her older mind mentally kicking in. "I don't think it really matters. This child is going to come whether you are ready or not. And at the end of the day, is your readiness or non-readiness really the thing to be focusing on?"

Rhaegar frowned. "What do you mean? How can it not be something to focus on?"

"How is the birth of a child something you are going to make yourself ready for, especially your own when you have never had a child before?" Laena countered. "And if you are that concerned, just look at Baelor. You had a hand in raising him just like mother and I did land you did the same with the triplets and with Viserys. At the risk of sounding presumptuous they all seem to be growing into well rounded individuals, so what are you really worried about?"

Rhaegar stared down at his hands and Laena got the feeling then that this went far beyond his own inexperience or the fact that he was young. Something else was going on.

"Rhaegar," she said but her twin still wouldn't look at her. "What is really bothering you?"

There was another long moment and she was about to give up when her brother spoke in a voice so low that she could hardly hear him. "What if I am like him?"

Laena frowned. "Like who?"

"You know who I am taking about," her brother said in a hard voice and she realized with a start who he was talking about. "What if these dreams mean something for more than just the realm? What if they have to do with my own sanity as well and I am becoming like him?"

"Well then so am I because I am having dreams as well," Laena replied in an attempt to cheer him but it didn't seem to work.

"I mean no offense sister but that would be even more frightening than myself inheriting the madness because I don't have magic…you do."

Laena grimaced. "Point taken. But you will not be like him."

"And how are you so certain?"

"Because father's madness seems to be circumstantial."

Rhaegar frowned. "What do you mean?"  
"I mean that father was placed upon the throne after Summerhall, after an event that almost wiped out the Targaryen family, it was the day that we were born and our dynasty as dragons nearly collapsed. He stepped into a role that was more pressure than he was ever going to face and he couldn't handle it. The knowledge that he was going to be solely responsible for the legacy of our house as well as ruling the realm was too much for him and so his mind cracked. He has become so obsessed with being a king that others will remember and fear that he has forgotten where he has come from and the tragedy that put him on the throne to begin with. You have faced none of that. Yes we have grown up with an insane father but you had better influences then he did. I am not excusing our father from what he has done as that is his responsibility but you have had other influences, mother, Ser Arthur and now Elia. You will not be like him."

"You didn't add yourself," Rhaegar said giving her a small smile. "You're one of those influences too you know."

Laena smiled and reached out to take her brother's hand before giving it a squeeze. "Well then thank you. If I have had any influence on you at all then I consider my role as a sister complete."

Rhaegar chuckled. "Well then you have succeeded dear sister. Very well, I will return to Elia and put my concerns about being a father aside."

"Good."

"And now we have the concerns of the realm to think about."

"We do."

"Then we need information. But don't be too long in speaking with Lord Eddard about it. We need this knowledge, and something tells me we need it soon."

Ω

Ned had a headache.

It was hard to remember when it had begun but for the last several weeks since he had returned to the Vale and the Eyrie.

Upon bidding his brother goodbye in the capital he had felt guilt that his primary emotion was one of relief. The Tullys had departed before Brandon had in order to return to Riverrun and Ned had felt a certain amount of relief at their departure as well. Trying to pretend that his brother wasn't an idiot to Lord Hoster had proved exhausting. The man hadn't made it easy however, he was as ambitious as they came and Ned could see the desire for this alliance in his eyes.

There had also been rumors that Lysa Tully was to wed Jaime Lannister before the King had tied a white cloak on his shoulders and some disturbing information about her had leaked through the rivers to the rest of the realm.

Ned didn't know how true the information was, but he winced upon hearing it all the same. If it was true, than his respect for Hoster Tully would be hard won.

No matter, he wasn't the one who would be marrying in the Tully family, thank the gods.

That did bring up thoughts of his own marriage and the knowledge that his father would no doubt wish to have a match made for him as well.

He silently prayed that that it would be the daughter of one of their vassals because as the second son he would not have had a daughter of a lord paramount given to him.

At least he didn't think so.

The idea of marrying someone like Cersei Lannister made him cringe, but he knew for a fact that Tywin Lannister's golden daughter wouldn't be given to anyone but a future king.

And now that had been stripped from the Lannisters as well.

Gods but he hated politics.

It also seemed so far away from his concern here in the Vale. Here it was quiet and peaceful but at the same time isolated. There were times when he would lie in his bed at night and listen to the wind whistle outside of his windows and be absorbed into nothing but silence.

There were times especially at night when he would go to the godswood of the place and sit for hours to think of many things, his family, the future, the unions his siblings were about to go through etc.

More commonly however he found his thoughts had been straying to princess Laena.

It was foolish, a woman like that would never have been given to a second son but for a moment he had allowed himself to remember the look of shock on her face when he had placed the purple and white flower crown upon her head and declared her to be his queen of love and beauty. She had appeared stunned as if this was something she was certain he would never do.

A part of him wondered why. It seemed to go beyond whether or not she was concerned about the attention that would be drawn to them if he had done something like that in public…to something deeper.

She may have appeared confident and in control to many others around her but Ned had the sinking suspicion that within her lurked a fragile heart, a heart that was as dreamlike and whimsical as her outward persona was not.

There were times when he had seen her with a dreamy look on her face and he had wondered what on earth she could possibly be thinking about. There were times when she appeared caught up in flights of fancy that he knew nothing about and could only guess at.

Ah well, she was a Targaryen, there had been many of them while not suffering from insanity had been a little well…strange in the past.

However it was a strangeness that he found he liked.

Ned found himself wishing both the princess and her enchanting presence were around in his moment so she might distract him from the encroaching headache that was constantly present on his mind these days.

And speaking of which, he needed to respond to the letter that she had written to him. But every time Ned sat down and picked up a quill to pen response, something seemed to happen to distract him.

He had been about to write back this very day in fact when shouting had distracted him long enough to hurry for the door of his chambers to find out what the bloody hell was going on.

It was then that he learned that Jon had been reading Robert the riot act for his act of discretion with a girl of the Vale.

The girl had been a commoner but it didn't matter as the deed had been done and she had sent word to Robert telling him that she was pregnant.

It was just his friend's bad luck that Jon had accepted the letter and had been enraged to know what had happened.

Robert didn't seem to understand what the problem was which served to make Jon even angrier. He didn't understand that he was the heir to Storm's End and couldn't go around behaving as a baseborn bastard would fathering children on every pretty girl that happened to catch his attention.

Privately Ned agreed and in a moment of disloyalty to his friend had begun to wonder whether or not Robert and Lyanna would be a good match after all. There was no guarantee that Robert's whoring behaviour would end with his marriage to Lyanna and the thought of his friend siring bastards with her while he was married to his sister was enough to make Ned feel sick to his stomach.

Despite the fact that he and Robert had known each other for years now…loyalty could only go so far.

It was a painful lesson that he was only now beginning to become full aware of.

Maybe it was time to write to his father about this union and see if there were other options possible.

The thought alone had made him feel guilty and so he had decided that he needed some time to think. Thus he had saddled a horse and descended from the Eyrie down the high road and through the Bloody Gate to take a ride through the surrounding area of the Vale.

The air might help to clear his head….he needed to think.

It had become slightly colder in the Eyrie but it had always been cold here. The Vale was the coldest region in the south with the Riverlands closely following.

The sun was beginning to go down and Ned knew he couldn't be out for too long else the dark would come and he would be taking his chances with whatever came out in the dark.

He didn't know if the Vale was the sort of place to house grumpkins and snarks but he didn't want to find out.

There was a specific spot off the high road about a fifteen minute ride from Eyrie which curiously enough housed a grove of tall pine trees that had deep roots not only bolted to the rock but seemed to have found their way between the brittle crevices to some rich wellspring of soil underneath.

It wasn't a godswood but it would do and Ned often like to sit there in the evenings.

When he reached the place, he dismounted and took the reins of his horse, bringing the animal in among the trees with him.

There was a full moon that evening and even as the sun was beginning to go down he could see the faint silvery disk in the periwinkle sky, still showing through despite the bright but dying rays of the sun.

Evenings were when the Vale was at its most beautiful.

Ned chose a spot that seemed to be in the middle of the circle of trees and seated himself on a rock there.

The ground beneath his feet was covered with soft earth and pine needles which gave off a strong smell as he immersed himself in them.

There was no a sound anywhere around, no bird flew past, no breezes blew, there was no sound of distant stones dropping down the sides of the mountain…it was completely and utterly silent.

For many the sound of so much nothing would be unnerving, but to Ned who had become used to a silent godswood at home in Winterfell found the place restful and quiet.

 _A lot quieter than the Eyrie is at the moment,_ he thought wryly to himself. _Gods, sometimes Robert's foolishness surprises even me. But I don't think I have ever seen Jon that livid before. The fall out from this is going to be tremendous and worst of all…Robert seems to have no idea that he has committed any wrong doing. How many more bastards will be fathered as a result of his carelessness?_

He sighed and buried his head in his hands for a moment. Though he would miss the Eyrie, there was a part of him that was glad to returning north in a few months.

But it wasn't just Robert's philandering ways and his own disgust with his friend that was grating on the quiet wolf.

Just before he had heard the news of his friend and had been planning to respond to princess Laena, a raven had arrived and was delivered to him by maester Coleman.

It had been from his father.

It had detailed that Lord Rickard had sent Brandon to the Wall to meet with the Night's Watch to come up with a plan to discover how best to deal with the threat of the wildlings.

At that Ned had wanted to curse and rage. It was one thing to come up with a plan to combat the people north of the wall…but to send his brother to do it seemed to Ned to be the height of folly.

Brandon was beyond hot headed and hot tempered at this point as his wedding to Catelyn Tully was to take place in a few months and Ned had a sinking feeling that he was going to do something that their family and perhaps all of the north would regret.

 _May the old gods help us all,_ he thought absently to himself and glanced up at the sky as it slowly turned from a more periwinkle blue to a sea blue.

His own dreams had been strange of late and the last one had sent up flying up from his bed in the middle of the night, heart pounding and eyes staring wide into the darkness of his chambers. His forehead had been wet with sweat and his breathing had been coming in gasps until he somehow managed to calm himself down.

And the worst part was that Ned didn't even know what it all meant.

 _He had been in a forest surrounded by white weirwood trees. Their blood red leave were high above him, higher than they should have been actually and there was a rocky ground beneath his feet. The rocks were all varying sizes and covered with thick green moss. The scent of the earth was sharp to his nose and almost overpowering._

 _He appeared lower to the ground as well and as if he were somehow crawling but couldn't get up onto his two feet._

 _The sky above him was black and there were no stars in it making Ned retain an ominous feeling that he couldn't explain. The tall white weirwood trees seemed to loom like giants over him and Ned found himself looking from side to side as he walked…seemingly on all fours through them._

 _However it wasn't until he saw something in the distance that he paused in his walk._

 _It was a small glassy pool that looked suspiciously like the hearts pool in the godswood of Winterfell._

 _Cautiously walking forward Ned walked closer and soon found himself at the edge of the same hearts pool. It was lined with rocks and perfectly round, the water contained within it looking as clear as glass._

 _But it wasn't until he reached the edge of it and looked into its surface that Ned received a terrible shock._

 _A face was looking back at him…but it wasn't his._

 _Instead the deep amber eyes and black furry maw of a large wolf looked back at him._

 _But he knew right away that this wasn't just any sort of wolf that might have been found in the Mountains of the Moon or even in the north._

 _This was a wolf as large as a small horse and as Ned watched the surface of the water in terror and fascination, a snarl slipped from between the wolf's jaws and his lips pulled back from its teeth revealing long white teeth as long as Ned's fingers._

 _And then there was a prickling sensation, almost as if he were being watched and Ned felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end._

 _Something was looking at him._

 _As if on cue, there was a low growl just ahead of him and Ned looked up in surprise, nearly reeling back in shock when he saw a wolf identical to the one he had seen in the surface of the pool staring back at him from across the pool._

 _It was standing as still as a stone and growling at Ned in the same way the surface reflection had growled just before._

 _Ned stared at the large wolf for a moment, his mind finally registering that he was seeing a creature that had been extinct south of the Wall for hundreds of years._

 _A Direwolf._

 _It was black as night with the same amber eyes that he had stared into earlier, almost shining with a sort of intelligence he had never seen before._

 _And then the black direwolf lowered its head back to the surface of the water almost as if it were trying to tell him something._

 _Curious Ned looked back down at the surface of the water and almost reeled back in shock and astonishment for a second time when another face appeared in the water in place of where the wolf's had been earlier._

 _But this face was far more terrible._

 _The face itself had white blue skin and appeared to be made of ice. It had a cruel mouth and sharp contours in its face that reminded him faintly of Stark features. It had no hair and its eyes were as blue as two stars._

 _Ned felt the blood in his veins turn to ice then and freeze him where he stood as he looked into that face…that terrible face._

 _There was more though, it seemed to be wearing a crown and dressed in ancient leathers with a strange pin at its throat. But the crown itself did not appear to be an object_ _resting upon this creatures head. Instead it was coming up through its skin looking more like hors than the prongs of a crown._

 _It stared at him for a very long moment…and then it opened its mouth and let out a peculiar metallic scream that seemed to shake the waters of the pool, blurring the creature from focus and nearly sending Ned reeling back on its haunches._

 _Mingled with the screams of the creature however…came the growls of the black direwolf growing louder and louder…._

And then Ned had come awake with a strangled cry in his own bed, the sheets knotted around him and his hands clenched into fists.

An Other….he had seen an Other….a creature that hadn't been seen in thousands of years since the last Long Night had come.

Granted it had only been in his dreams but that didn't seem to make much of a difference as he had seen that creature….that horrible face in excruciating detail and it was far too vivid to ignore.

He knew he wouldn't be forgetting that as long as he lived and he knew he needed to write to his father…and he needed to go home.

Something was stirring in the darkness beyond the Wall…something ancient and evil….something was awake.

And it was just then that he heard a strange sound that made him stiffen up like a board.

It was a low growl.

Almost as if he were a puppet with his strings being pulled, Ned slowly turned around and found himself face to face with the creature straight out of his dreams.

It was standing at the edge of the clearing by the pines and it was staring at him with focused and concentrated eyes.

It was even bigger than his dreams would have him believe and was perhaps almost as big as his mount who had snorted in nervousness at it from where it was tied to the tree on the other side of the clearing.

But Ned couldn't move.

He was staring at a direwolf, an enormous live direwolf.

His first thought was what on earth this ancient creature of the north was doing this far south of the wall.

To his knowledge a direwolf had never been seen this far south. They were creatures of snow and ice and winter. And yet here was one standing in a clearing the Vale, staring at him as if it had been seeking him out.

And then a strange thought occurred to him…what if it had?

He dismissed it almost immediately as madness but the thought persisted. He was a Stark…and the symbol of the Starks was a direwolf.

It couldn't have been a coincidence that he a man with such this creature as the symbol of his house was seeing a live one now, when one hadn't been seen in thousands of years south of the Wall.

He was a Stark…it was no coincidence that this creature had appeared to him.

As soon as that line of thought swept through his mind, something even stranger happened.

The direwolf slowly began to walk towards him, padding silently over the rocky ground until it was standing in front of him.

It seemed to enlarge the closer it came and as it came toward him Ned felt his knees begin to tremble.

When it stopped before him, its face was tall enough that he could look into its large intelligent amber eyes easily.

And then the two just stared at each other for a long time.

Ned swallowed hard, his mind whirling crazily about what he should no next as the direwolf was utterly silent and seemed to be waiting for him to do something.

But what?

Slowly, with great care and great caution, Ned pulled off the glove he was wearing and reached a hand out towards the enormous creature.

He knew in the back of his mind this was a foolhardy move and that this creature was more than capable of tearing his entire arm off but somehow he didn't think that it would.

How he knew this he didn't know but he didn't spent too much time dwelling on it.

Slowly Ned reached his hand towards the side of the wolf's face but the creature didn't move.

It wasn't until his fingers just barely grazed against the fur atop the wolf's head that the third strange thing that day happened.

The moment that Ned touched the fur of the wold atop its head just above its large lamp like yellow eyes, there was a sizzling sensation and he felt as if he had been shocked with a minute charge of lighting.

Whatever he felt the wolf seemed to feel it too for its swivelled its large head up to Ned's palm and Ned found himself petting a creature that no one had touched for thousands of years.

The sensations that came over him then were hard to describe.

He felt terror, excitement, fascination, and curiosity all at once.

The moment was then broken when Ned's horse let out a scream of terror at seeing the large predator so close and reared.

Ned looked back at the creature who was once again looking at him, and then before he could stop it, the direwolf had turned and loped back to the edge of the pine clearing, disappearing into the gathering dark.

Ned stared after it, feeling a strange sense of loss and then looked down at his hand, feeling a tingling sensation in his fingers that refused to go away.

It was then that he let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. He felt weak all of a sudden and badly in need of a rest.

A nervous whinny from his horse jerked Ned back to reality and he shook off the feeling from the moment and cast an almost wistful look in the direction that the direwolf had gone in. He almost wished he could follow it.

But duty called, especially now that what he had seen had not been just a dream, not all of it anyway….it had been a vision.

And if he remained silent about it, then the north and possibly the rest of the realm was doomed.

With that in mind Ned all but flung himself onto his horse and rode with all speed for the Eyrie.

He had a letter to write.

Ω

Just as the sky reached the twelfth watch of the night, Laena slipped into a thick dark cloak and made to depart from the capital.

Though she didn't have a long way to go, she intended to be back by the morning and had a lot of questions that needed answering.

She was just about to leave when there was a gentle tap on her door.

She immediately discarded the cloak and left it on the bed. "Come."

The door opened and the familiar face of Rhaegar peered around the corner. "May I come in?"

Laena chuckled. "Your timing is impeccable brother I was just about to leave."

Rhaegar gave her a small smile. "I didn't mean to interrupt you, but I did wish to see you off…and to tell you something."

Laena frowned. "What's that?"

"Our dreams of late have been dark and terrible," Rhaegar said after seemingly taking a moment to gather himself. "And there are few people who can tell us what they mean. However, I have had something of a….revelation."

"A revelation?" Laena asked and then wondered if the Wrackspurts were at work again. "What sort of revelation?"

Rhaegar sighed. "I have told Elia of my dreams and she told me something I had honestly forgotten."

"What's that?"

"There may be a place we can go to in order to get clarity of what our dreams mean…the Isle of Faces."

A chill stole over Laena then. The Isle of Faces was a deeply mysterious place where centuries before a pact had been forged between the First Men and the Children of the Forest which ended the war between them. In celebration of the new found peace every weirwood tree on the island was given a face so that the gods would serve as a witness to the pact.

And with the forging of this pact, the Order of the Green Men was formed to tend to the last remaining weirwoods in the south.

With the arrival of the Andals who failed to conquer the Green Men, some maesters have conjectured that the Children of the Forest survived the Andal invasion of the Isle.

No one had seen the Green Men or the Children of the Forest for centuries and if they were still alive, they had no left the island. It was mysterious place in the Riverlands, many saying it was a place of magic.

The septons and septas would never speak of it and very few visitors ever went there.

"You want to go there?" Laena asked in a voice that was barely a whisper. "How do we know that there will even be anyone there?"

"We don't," Rhaegar replied. "But we won't know unless we try. Addam Velaryon was the last to visit the Isle of Faces during the Dance of Dragons."

"That was two centuries ago," Laena put in. "Do you think anyone will still be there?"

Even as she said the words however there was a prickling sensation at the back of her neck, an itching feeling that she was forgetting something.

"I don't know," Rhaegar replied. "But we have to try. And just because Addam Velaryon was the last notable person to visit the Isle of Faces doesn't mean that other people haven't gone. I have heard interesting stories from Lord Varys about people, common folk, men and women going to the Isle to ask questions. Some return and some don't. But as soon as Elia reminded me of the place there was this tugging sensation in my gut a feeling of being pulled somewhere…somewhere north."

He looked up at his twin. "We need to go Laena. And at the very least if the place is inhabited by grumpkins and snarks then you can use your magic and get us out of there without delay."

Laena gave him a grim smile. "The Isle of Faces possesses a magic far greater than mine Rhaegar. How do you know that even setting foot on that island wouldn't render it moot?"

"I don't," Rhaegar said. "But we need to know. There's something in the wind Laena. Something….evil…is coming. And we need to know what it is."

"Yes," she said quietly. "Yes we do. And if my conversation with Ned gives me no answers than we shall. I should go now. I'll be back by morning."

Her brother nodded. "Alright then. You have found a picture of the Eyrie?"

Laena quickly took up her cloak and wrapped it about herself. "I did better than that. I found an accurate description as well as a visual of the godswood in the Eyrie so I can apparate there. After that its all a matter of finding Ned and asking my questions."

Her brother raised an eyebrow at her. "It's Ned now is it?"

Laena sighed and went over to her desk before pulling open the bottom drawer, the one that had the false bottom where she had hidden the crown of flowers.

She held it up so her brother would be able to see it for himself. "After this, I think Ned is better name."

Rhaegar stared at the crown for a moment before his jaw went slack and he turned to his twin. "He gave it to you?"

"Yes."

To her surprise a moment later Rhaegar began to chuckle. "I suppose it makes sense in a way. The men of the north are fierce people and honorable to a fault. And I cannot imagine the son of Rickard Stark drawing attention to himself in a spectacle like crowning you as the queen of love and beauty before all those nobles would have entailed."

Laena glanced down at the crown she had absently clenched in her hands, feeling a heat rising to her cheeks.

Her brother saw it too and she didn't see the small smile on her face. "Do you care for him then?"

"I don't know," Laena said in a whisper. "But I do know that I haven't felt this…strange about someone in a long time."

"Strange?" her brother asked.

"Yes, strange. I can't think of any other way to describe it. You know there are many people here who say I am more beautiful than mother and after having had many of the nobles here at court for your wedding say the same thing or give me looks that said as much, I was rather fed up. But Ned didn't do any of that. He was respectful, polite and he was the one who saved Baelor. As a result our youngest brother loves him and looks up to him. That's not something that I can ignore."

"I know," Rhaegar replied. "I am happy for you Laena. Truly I am. He is an honorable man. What I am concerned about is father's reaction."

"He's not going to find out," Laena said with confidence."

"I hope not," Rhaegar said getting to his feet and crossing the room so he could take her hand. She knew he meant every word he was going to say then.

"I want you happy Laena. You've spent so much time taking care of us that you deserve some happiness of your own. And if Eddard Stark is the source of that happiness well….then I think you should pursue it and perhaps him."

"Do you think so?" Laena asked in a small voice."

"I do."

Laena sighed and replaced the crown back in the false bottom before shutting the drawer. "I'll take that as your blessing then. Now I should be going."

"Very well."

She took up the cloak, replaced it about her shoulders and then nodded at her brother one final time. "I won't be long."

He nodded and then before he could say anything else, Laena pictured the godswood of the Eyrie in her mind and spun on her heel, disappearing from the red keep with a crack.

There was a terrible jerk and a spinning sensation and when Laena opened her eyes again, she found herself in a short grassy field that was strewn about with statues and tall white flowers.

No trees grew there but she had read that they didn't because of how rocky that the soil was.

Laena immediately disillusioned herself so no one would notice her and began to look around.

There were several benches strewn throughout the godswood and as she turned to look around she could see that the garden on all sides was surrounded by tall white towers where one could look down on it.

She winced, that was going to prove a problem if someone were looking down. Ah well, there would be time for that later.

The night sky was all but black but a full moon was shining down on the Eyrie which cast a silver light on everything around making the surroundings almost glow. A gentle breeze was blowing lifting Laena's hair from her shoulders slightly.

It was beautiful.

 _It certainly is lovely here,_ she thought.

And just then she saw a familiar form sitting on a white marble bench at the end of the godswood. There was a piece of paper in his hands, no doubt a letter of some sort and he was reading it carefully.

Laena quickly muttered the words to the disillusionment spell and cast it over Ned so that no one would see them either.

His handsome face frowned slightly as if he had felt something strange and he looked up for a moment before going back to reading the letter with renewed vigor. He appeared even more serious than he usually was and Laena felt her own expression become even grimmer.

This was going to be a night of grim sobriety for them both.

It was then that Laena took a deep breath and stepped forward. Her foot crunched upon a dry leaf in the grass and Ned looked up at once.

He frowned upon seeing her and a second later registered who it was for his eyes widened almost comically.

He was on his feet in a trice. "Your grace….Princess Laena…what…"

It was the most stunned she had ever heard him sound and Laena took a deep breath. "I know this is…shocking Ned and I promise I will explain my presence and how I got here in a moment. But for right there, there's something more important. I need to talk to you."

She had a funny feeling then that things would never be the same between them after this.

Ω

 **Luna and Ned are going to be spending a lot more time together in the coming chapters. Also the reign of Aerys will be coming to a swift and decisive end with Rhaegar soon to be taking the reins. Don't forget to review!**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Eddard had gotten up so fast that Laena wondered in that instance if someone had lit a fire underneath him. It was a little amusing to see the stern and grim wolf as surprised as he seemed. When she had been around him in the past Laena had always felt like the one the Nargles were messing with as opposed to everyone else.

It was a little irritating that she felt more frazzled around him than she would have been in her previous life when she was around him, but then perhaps that was what made him so attractive to her. Ned had a calm inner strength that she found enormously appealing having grown up in the capital all her life.

He was duty bound in the same sort of way that Harry had been, he was kind and compassionate taking the time to rescue her brother and then spend time with the youngest prince while others would have ignored him.

It was an incredible fatherly instinct that made Laena feel warm whenever she had looked at Baelor and Ned together in the past.

It helped that her four year old brother loved the quiet wolf and Ned was nothing but calm, respectful and patient with the little boy who was a little high strung at times.

But so for that matter could she and he seemed to be able to calm her with every conversation that they had had in past, as well as a way of taking her off guard just as he had done with the flower crown at the tourney weeks earlier.

And it sort of made her feel a little good that this time she was the one to make him surprised.

Ned stared at her for a moment as if she were a shade or a ghost from the past. In the silvery light of the moon, his face appeared almost white. It was a look she had never seen on him.

"Your grace," he said and his tone was light with surprise. "What…How is this…"

"I know this is shocking my lord," Laena said again cutting him off and stepping forward out of the shadows. "But I can explain why and how I'm here."

He nodded slightly and she had a feeling he was as much responding to her as he was still trying to process her appearance here.

Suddenly he blinked and seemed to remember his manners. "Won't you sit down then?"

"Yes thank you," she said and only when she had seated herself did he sit down next to her.

It was then that she actually got a good look around where they were sitting and gave a slight smile of delight and appreciation which she was certain came across dreamy.

"It's beautiful here," she said looking around.

At the moment, the godswood of the Eyrie had no trees but only tall white flowers and pale green grasses that waved gently in the night breeze. There were a few stone statues there as well as benches that Ned had been sitting on and there was the silvery light of the moon and stars coming down like a spotlight from the heavens upon the quiet space.

When the wind did blow it almost sounded as if some celestial being had leaned down and was blowing its breath gently through the grasses.

Laena sort of liked that the wood was in the center of the Eyrie with the towers surrounding it on every side. It made it feel as if this was a sacred space for peace and prayer.

Even though there were no trees it in, it seemed to hold its own tranquil serenity that was disconnected from the rest of civilization where there was an ethereal sort of peace that might be pursued.

Something she had a feeling Ned had been doing that before she interrupted him.

Ned nodded at her words, watching her face carefully as if he were still trying process her being here and wondering whether or not she would disappear and she felt the need to carry on speaking to fill the silence.

"It's not as warm as the capital but there is much less of a stink here," she said looking around with the dreamy smile that had become more characteristic of her these days,

"I don't suppose the wrackspurts would like this place too much as there are too few people here."

"Wrackspurts?" Ned asked looking terribly confused.

Laena chuckled. "Oh yes. Baelor and I are constantly on the lookout for them. I'm surprised you haven't seen any in King's Landing when you were there. They're like these little blue pesky insects who have a terrible habit of irritating many people around them and stinging them to make them act strange."  
If it was possible, Ned looked even more confused and Laena decided that she would take pity on him.

"Anyway, the point is that there aren't any here so we can speak without worry of being stung," she said, "and that is good because what I have to tell you about why I am here I have a feeling will take a long time to say. But first I should probably tell you how I got here to begin with."

"I would appreciate that," the quiet wolf began seeming to regain his polite nature. He appeared to have accepted her presence there as not being a trick of the light or something of a hallucination. "I am not normally used to being surprised."

Laena smiled at him. "Well then I will be frank as I can with you. Do you happen to know any stories of the magic of the Targaryens?"  
Ned frowned slightly and then for a moment looked at her so intensely that she felt her cheeks begin to heat and had to look away from him, hoping that the shadows would hide her red face.

Finally he turned away and looked out over the tall grasses of the godswood, his grey eyes becoming distant and thoughtful. "My father once told me a story about the maester at the Wall by the name of Aemon Targaryen when he visited the place once as a boy," he said and Laena blinked. "Its been a long time since I have heard the name of my great uncle."

"Aye," Ned said giving her a brief smile. "His father had brought him there to show him the Wall and he met him then. My father occasionally told me about stories of his intelligence and that he was the finest maester that Castle Black and the Watch had ever had. But he also told me that he was very old and because of that or perhaps in spite of it, he was possessed of strange dreams. A kind man, he saw well for someone who has lost the use of his eyes. But the most….unique thing about him were those dreams, visions that my father said he could not explain. He told my father that he once dreamed of a stag battling a dragon upon a great river of ice."

Laena felt a chill race up and down her spine. _Perhaps when I go to the wall I will need to inspect more than the sturdiness of it. I may have to check up on Great Uncle Aemon as well._

"There was an ancestor of mine," she said softly. "Daenys Targaryen, who when she was still a maid had a powerful prophetic dream about the destruction of ancient Valyria. And so her father Lord Aenar Targaryen moved the family and all of their belongings to the island of Dragonstone in the Narrow Sea. They took five dragons with them and when the Doom came twelve years later, House Targaryen were the only family of Dragon lords to survive it."

She gave Ned a small smile. "I suppose you could say that magic has always been an important thing in my family. It has been both a blessing and a curse to us."

Ned nodded. "Because of Summerhall?"

"Yes, because of Summerhall…because of dreaming old men who wanted to bring about the return of dragons and magic to our family uncaring of the price they had to pay. Perhaps they should call the madness and insanity that has been so characteristic of my family dragon sickness. It would certainly fit."

She paused before looking up from her folded hands back at Ned who was watching her intently. "My family has always possessed abilities to a strange degree Ned, whether that was in the form of prophetic dreams or visions it matters not. But it has gone back as far as Ancient Valyria. How do you think my ancestors were able to tame and bond with dragons? Magic is as old as the ancient freehold itself, as old as the dragon lords. But after the legendary Dance when many of the Targaryen dragons perished, the dragons began to become smaller and smaller and magic became less and less potent. And after Summerhall…the day my brother and I were born in a tent that had been erected amidst the ash and the smoke, well my father feared that magic had been expunged from our family line. "

Eddard was deadly silent as he listened to her and she looked up to find his grey eyes fastened on her, looking almost like liquid silver in the light of the moon.

There were times when she wished he didn't have the ability to do that. Laena had a feeling that Ned didn't know that when he engaged in a conversation with someone he had a way of making them feel like they were the only person in the world that existed.

It was both wonderful and extremely intimidated.

 _And now the time has come._

"But it hasn't," she whispered and braced herself for his reaction.

Without looking at him, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the warmth in her blood, the warmth that had always been there and was boiling just below the surface.

And then she felt it.

When Laena opened her eyes again she was confronted with a singular flame dancing back and forth across her palm. It seemed to move in a hypnotic rhythm, fastening her eyes to it and not letting her look away.

To her surprise, Ned didn't flinch upon seeing it but rather seemed to peer closer in fascination.

And then to even further her shock, he reached out a hand and gently traced the skin of her palm that bordered around the flame as if he wasn't sure it was real.

After a moment Laena extinguished the flame and sighed before turning to look at Ned who had his eyes narrowed slightly.

"I am one of them it seems. One of the last members of the dragonlord families to possess magic."

Ned was silent for a long time and then he shocked her further by reaching out and slowly closing her open hand with his larger rough one before lowering it to her lap. His hand was much cooler than hers which provided relief as her skin had become very warm from the flame.

"So you are," he said softly in his low rumbling voice.

Unbidden, Laena felt goosebumps rise on her skin and she fought not to shiver, blaming it on the wrackspurts and the cool of the night other than the rather charged atmosphere.

A wind blew, brushing her silver locks off of her shoulders and she hunched slightly inside the cloak that she was wearing.

Ned said nothing for a long time….so long in fact that Laena began to frown. "You don't seem surprised."

"No," he replied. "I don't suppose I am."

That confused her. "Why are you not surprised?"

Ned sighed before turning back to her. His eyes held an almost long suffering look in them which made Laena even more confused until he spoke again.

"The north is no stranger to magic," he said. "It is how the Wall was built, there is no other option. I know many lend credence to Bran the Builder for engineering the construction of it, but it could not have been erected any other way but through magic or by creatures of magic…giants or the Children of the Forest. Then there are stories I was told by my old nurse when I was a boy, stories of people who could transfer their consciousness into the minds of animals and do fantastic things or those who could change their skin to a beast but still retain their humanity altogether. So no your grace, the north is no stranger to the idea of magic as the First Men had their own ways of doing things….things that are far beyond the reach of what we know today."

Laena blinked, a little surprise and pleased that it had been this easy. She knew of all the people she might tell besides her mother and her brother, Ned would be the one who would take it the best.

She didn't know why, but she did have a feeling and as it turned out, she was right.

And then all of a sudden she frowned. "But why does it seem that you aren't as surprised by my magic?"

There was another long silence in which she could almost count her breaths before Ned spoke again.

And this time it was to further surprise her by chuckling slightly.

"What is so funny?" she demanded.

"Forgive me your grace," Ned said glancing up at the moon, "But for whatever odd reason I feel as if this was something I knew deep in my mind already."

Laena frowned. "I'm afraid I don't understand."

Ned turned back to her then and she was further stunned to see the look in his grey eyes was almost…soft. To know she was the object of that look was rather well…nice.

"Do you recall the day that I met Prince Baelor your grace?" he asked and Laena flinched slightly. She didn't like to think about that day as her brother had almost drowned and she had almost lost her wits and hadn't been able to do anything about it.

"I do," she said softly.

"Well the water was not so cold, nor the prince's cries so loud that I was unaware of what was going on around me," he said and she went very still, remembering then what had happened and what she had done.

"I can recall being deep enough in the water that I could feel the graze of a sharp rock beneath my foot and thinking to myself that the undercurrent had us and if I did not swim for the shore as hard as I could then we were going to be swept out to the bay and the young prince would drown. It was then that I felt a the water come dangerously close to my nose, water nearly entering it and then there was a terrible jerk and a frightful sensation of being turned upside down and then right side up again. Right before that happened however I caught sight of you standing on the shore. At the time I thought you were simply waving your arm to signal for help but then the next thing that I knew, I was standing on the shore with the prince soaking wet and breathing hard with your grace and princess Elia hurrying towards us.

"But it wasn't until I had set the prince down and looked up at you when I saw the look on your face."

"What look was that?" Laena asked softly, feeling a little stunned that he had figured it out.

"It was as if there was this flashing in your eyes your grace and your hand was outstretched almost as if you had been reaching for us. And then I knew that something…strange was going on."

Laena looked up at him for a moment in complete astonishment and then began to laugh. "I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. I got the feeling that you were far more perceptive than you let on Ned."

A corner of his mouth pulled up in a slight smile and he inclined his head towards her. "Thank you your grace. Every so often I do have moments of clarity."

Laena blinked before smiling at him. Had he just made a joke?

"Well then that makes what I have come to say a little simpler," she replied and then sobered when she remembered her dream and what she needed to tell him and ask as well.

"And what is that?" he asked.

Laena sighed. "Do you recall our conversation several weeks ago in the capital at my brother's wedding feast?"

All at once Ned sobered and he turned towards her so she knew she had his full attention. "Indeed. And some developments have happened in the north in that regard as well."

Laena grimaced. "Then I think I will need you to tell me about those as well. But first…another dream seems to have been disturbing me lately, but this one was very…specific."

Ned narrowed his eyes at her. "Specific in what way?"

"In the way that I knew where I was and I knew what I was seeing, but I didn't know what it meant."

"Can you recall it now?" he asked. "I only ask because my own dreams have become very odd of late and even know I can recall them in almost excruciating detail."

"I can," Laena replied and then took a deep breath before beginning the whole haunting tale.

"When I opened my eyes, it beyond bloody cold and I seemed to be standing upon a thick sheet of ice. Only this time I was not in an open field but rather I seemed to be in a great hall that was carved entirely of ice. As I looked around, I could see what appeared to be shelves standing in the corners of the room which made me think it was an odd kitchen of sorts once. How someone could cook down there in that freezing cold I will never understand. But that was when I turned around and I saw something embedded into the wall of ice."

"What was it?" Ned asked.

Laena paused here and swallowed hard as she still felt some undefinable terror well up inside of her when she thought about that weirwood tree.

"It was a door," she continued, her voice becoming lower and lower. "But it was unlike any door I have ever seen before. It was pure white and seemed to be carved from the trunk of a heart tree. And…there was a face that had been carved into the door, an ancient wrinkled face that appeared thousands of years old. Its eyes and mouth were closed but I had the feeling that it was a sort of deep magic that was keeping it slumbering. And that if something happened….it might wake up."

Ned's face had gone white, or at least it appeared so in the moonlight and Laena knew right away that he knew what she was talking about.

"You know this place don't you?" she asked and Ned nodded.

"Aye," he said after a moment his voice sounding strangely hoarse. "But I have only heard stories of it. It is the Black Gate, and it lies deep beneath the Nightfort along the Wall. The Nightfort is the oldest castle on the Wall and it has the bloodiest history, tales that would make the toes of a child curl as mine certainly did when I was a boy. It is said to be the only way to the other side of the Wall apart from a gate in Castle Black."

"I suppose that name is ironic given that the name of the gate is black and the gate itself is white," Laena muttered, earning a somewhat amused look from Ned. "I suppose so. But go on your grace. I sense there is more you have to say."

Laena swallowed hard and steeled herself. "There is. After a long moment of me simply standing several feet away from the door and looking at it in surprise, I blinked and suddenly found myself standing only a foot away from the white weirwood. And then….then the eyes that had been carved into the door opened and looked at me."

Ned had gone very still then and she could tell he was concentrating on every word she was saying. "And then?"

"Then it spoke," Laena continued. "It asked me who I was. But the words that I replied with were not something that Laena Targaryen would have said."

"What were they?"

Laena took a deep breath and recited the words to the speech that she knew she would not forget until her dying day. "I am the Watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers. I am the shield that guards the realms of men.

"And then the voice told me to pass before opening its mouth as wide as it possibly could until it was nothing more than a great mass of wrinkles framing an open maw so big that I could have walked through it. And between those spaces…there was nothing but darkness."

A chilly silence seemed to linger between them as her words died away and Laena found the whistling of the win in the godswood was almost as eerie as the memory of her dream had been.

It might have been her imagination but it seemed as if the air had become colder as soon as she finished relaying her story. A shadow of a cloud passed over the moon momentarily blocking the light and prompting Laena to look up.

Just as it was during the day when clouds passed over the sun and shaded the light, so too was the same happening with the moon now. Only this time it was a very large cloud making the moon nearly disappear altogether and casting Ned's face into shadow next to her.

Laena imagined something like that happening for years even decades to come and realized with a jolt that the possibility of a second long night may be coming into focus.

The statues in the godswood appeared to become almost ghostly and for a moment the princess could imagine them coming to life and slowly ambling towards her and Ned.

Unbidden she shivered.

"That is indeed a part of a pledge that the men of the Watch recite when they take their oaths for the first and final time," Ned said finally in a very low voice. "It is meant to be as grimly serious as it is historically and mythically fantastical. We in the north still remember the Long Night and the War for the Dawn and what came with it. We remember the fierce cold and the biting ice. We remember it all. The _north_ remembers it all. The vow is a way of making certain that we never forget."

"Then why is it that the rest of the realm seems to have forgotten?" Laena asked.

Ned sighed and ran a hand through his unruly dark brown hair. "Because your grace, politics has consumed this country in a never ending wave of pettiness, grudges, greed, power struggles and bartering that I will never fully understand nor like. The north remembers because someone has to and because there are more important things to think about than positions on the small council or what insults have been traded between nobles."

It was one of the longest speeches that she had ever heard Ned make and Laena was rather surprised and impressed with his vehemence in stating it. He was obviously very passionate about his home and its history and the fact that no one else seemed to know or to care about it anymore grated on him.

"Well," she said. "I haven't forgotten, and neither it seems has my brother."

 _That_ got his attention. "I beg your pardon your grace? How has this captured the attention of prince Rhaegar?"

Laena gave the quiet wolf a grim smile. "We have been having our own separate dreams lately even though Rhaegar's have died off and mine have intensified. He knew I was coming here to see you today because we needed answers and I had hoped that you would be able to give them to me."

"I am not a prophet your grace," Ned replied.

"No you're not," Laena agreed. "But my brother also said if you did not have the information that we were seeking than there is one place where we might be able to go to in order to get it."

"And where is that?"

Laena took a deep breath. "The Isle of Faces."

A heavy silence followed those words that had enough weight to it that Laena was certain she could feel it resting on her shoulders.

"The Isle of Faces?" Ned asked finally and she could see that his handsome face had gone as grim as stone in the light and he was looking at her with eerie intensity. "Are you certain you wish to go there your grace?"

She attempted a smile and just managed it. "I am not one to be scared off of a problem Ned. This is no longer about me and what I want, this is about the future of the realm and what I am doing to aid the Seven Kingdoms. If it turns out that there are…people there who will be able to help me then…I think I need to try."

He nodded for a moment as if he were processing what she was saying and thinking it over in his mind.

And then he looked up at her and said something completely unexpected. "Then perhaps you would allow me to accompany you."

Laena was so stunned she forgot for a moment who she was talking to and stared at him while blinking slowly.

Thankfully she caught herself soon after and then swallowed hard. "You would want to come with me? Why?"

To her surprise the second son of Lord Rickard gave her a small grim smile. "My motives are not entirely pure your grace. I do have my own personal reasons for wishing to visit that place…namely the fact that my own dreams have been disturbing of late."

Well they were just full of surprises tonight weren't they?

"You have been having dreams as well?" she asked in a whisper. "What are they of if I may ask?"

Ned sighed and then ran a hand through his hair again. "Its somewhat hard to describe them as I am not entirely myself in this dream. I am someone or rather….something else."

Laena frowned. "I'm afraid I don't understand."

So he told her. He told her everything that had happened since he had fallen asleep in his bed in the Eyrie and awakened in a strange godswood on all fours. He told her about how he had padded forward in this odd manner until he had reached what appeared to be a hearts pool, one very much like the one in Winterfell.

When Laena heard about how he had looked down into the pool and seen the face of a direwolf staring back at him, two things entered her mind at the same time.

The first was that Ned possessed some degree of magic just like she did as he was describing his experience of being a wolf. His reflection had had a furry face and amber eyes, ears that were pressed flat against his forehead and large amber lamp like eyes that seemed to stare into his very soul as well as razor sharp white teeth that seemed as long as his fingers.

The second thing that entered her mind was the knowledge that this dream was not only prompted as a result of some form of suppressed magic that Ned possessed, but that it was a sort of prophetic dream that had perhaps been prompted by some higher order power.

And then when Ned had told her about seeing another direwolf across the edge of the pool in his dream that was the exact same as the one he had been staring at in his reflection she was even more convinced that this was not a coincidence.

It was only when he told her about that horrible blue and white face that he had seen in the water's surface with eyes like two stars and a crown of horns sticking up through his head that she realized that he had seen something that no one had seen in thousands of years and that this most definitely meant that something evil was stirring in the far north.

When he had finally finished his tale, the both of them sat on the bench of the godswood in silence, trying to comprehend what this all meant.

"I am now more convinced than ever that I need to go to the Isle of Faces," Laena said finally. "Something is on the move Ned, something greater and more terrible than we might ever have anticipated and it is an enemy that no one has seen in several lifetimes. We need to know what to do about it."

"Aye we do," Ned said grimly. "And perhaps I need to return to Winterfell early and speak to my father if he has received any…strange news from his bannermen. The men of the north have a long history in dealing with the mystical and they would be the first to feel something in the air."

"That's a good idea," Laena muttered. "And in the meantime, my brother and I need to convince our fool of a father that there is an imminent threat to the far north that needs more attention that his insane notions of magic and lineage do."

Ned looked at her carefully. "Has the king…declined since the last time that I saw him?"

Laena sighed. "It depends on your definition of declining. I'm worried Ned. I'm worried that if something doesn't give and soon that my father will do something he will not be able to explain away with his _I am the king mantra_ and it will incite a civil war in the realm. Even if he is somehow convinced of this threat…what if it's too late?"

The heavy silence in the godswood returned and Laena twisted her hands in her lap until she was surprised when Ned reached over and gently covered both of her hands with one of his large ones.

It was as forward a move that she had seen him perform since he had awarded her the flower crown after the tourney several weeks earlier.

Prompted she looked up into his calm but warm grey eyes that looked silver in the light and blinked when she saw the soft look shining there.

"It's not too late," he said quietly and with such assurance that she found herself believing him.

"How are you so certain?" she asked.

"Because I have always been an idealistic person and seeing as how it is still summer, there is still time to prepare," Ned said logically. "We know now as well and I will do what I can to get to my father, explain what is happening to him and hope that we can ready ourselves before something terrible happens."

"Do you think something terrible will happen?" Laena asked.

"I don't want it to," Ned said. "But at this point I do not know. However I do have a sinking feeling that something terrible will happen if we do not act now. But we are acting now."

Laena nodded feeling somewhat reassured. She was still chilled to the bone from what she had heard that night but she was feeling somewhat calmer and warmer now than when she had come.

"When will you leave the Vale?" she asked.

"Not for another few weeks at least," Ned replied. "I will need to write to my father first and relay what was in my dream. And then I will need to explain all of this to Lord Arryn and hope that he believes me."

"Why wouldn't he?" Laena asked. "You've been his ward for a number of years now and I am certain that the two of your trust each other. What reason could he have for denying your claims?"

Ned flashed her a brief smile that disappeared in an instant and was replaced with shadow a moment later. "Lord Arryn is a very loyal and honorable man. But we are delving into the realm of the fantastic your grace. Most of the Andal lines that came to Westeros centuries ago may not believe that such a threat as the Others exists. And as such they will need some…convincing."

"What sort of convincing?" Laena asked.

"I don't know," Ned replied. "But hopefully my father will have more answers than I do. And hopefully when I return Brandon will have as well."

Laena frowned. "Has Lord Brandon gone somewhere?"

Ned gave her a tiny wintry smile. "Aye. At the behest of our father he has ridden to the Wall to look into a plan for combating the threat of the wildlings. They are pressing even further south which I am now convinced has a reason. That is also something I will need to discuss with my father."

"It seems we both have our marching orders," Laena said. "I should return to the capital and tell my brother all the information I have learned. Would you be opposed to me informing him of your dream Ned?"

The quiet wolf paused for a moment before he replied. "By all means tell him about the Other your grace. But for the moment if you would not mind keeping the parts regarding the direwolf out of it? At least until I know what that means for me personally."

"Of course," Laena said nodding.

She got up to leave and then was stopped when Ned spoke her name again. "If I could have but one more moment of your time your grace?"

"Yes?" she asked with a slight frown.

Ned got up from his spot and stood next to her with a somewhat strange and intense look on his face the like of which she had never seen before.

"How does your magic allow you to travel here to the Eyrie in the first place?" he asked. "Though this country has a long history of magic, especially in the north I have never seen a magic such as yours before. How does it work?"

Laena smiled at him. "If I knew that in full Ned I would gladly tell it to you. However I can tell you that I managed to get here by what is known as a spell of apparition. All I would need to do is to know what a keep or a physical location looked like, center it in my mind and then spin on my heel in order to get there."

Ned frowned at her. "So you may travel anywhere in this country with nothing more than a thought?"

"Indeed."

He stared at her for a long moment before blinking and chuckling for a moment. "I suppose that would come in handy then."

She smiled back. "Yes it would."

Laena dusted her hands off on the front of her cloak and then nodded at Ned one final time. "If I learn anything new from my brother, is it alright if I return?"

"Of course," Ned said with a slight frown. "As this carries on I am of the mind that communication between the crown and the north is key."

"I hold to that mind too," Laena said and he nodded. "Good. Then you will return once you have more answers?"

"I will, I am going to assume that night time would be the best time with which to meet you?"

"It is."

"Good, then perhaps I will return tomorrow night. I may have more information as early as then."

Ned nodded and then before she made to tuck her hands into her chest and spin away from the Eyrie and the Vale altogether, he surprised her once more by taking her hand.

Laena cocked her head to one side and frowned at him in question.

Ned was watching her carefully in such a manner that it made her feel both uncomfortable and pleased. "Is something wrong Ned?"

"No your grace," he replied. "But thank you. Thank you for informing me of this threat."

Laena frowned at him before doing something that surprised her and reaching up to touch the side of his face tentatively. His cheek felt cool but it was a deliciously cool feeling against the warmth of her palm. His face was rough as if a beard was just beginning to form and Laena felt an odd thrill being this close to him.

"Of course," she whispered.

A moment later he bent slightly and took her other hand, pressing a gentle kiss to it that caused goosebumps to rise on her arms.

But she forced herself to keep her eyes on his the whole while before a slight smile rose to her lips.

After a moment, the voice of practicality in the back of her mind spoke up, informing her that it was time to go.

"Goodbye Ned," she said softly before taking a deep breath and spinning on her heel as fast as she could disappearing with a crack.

Later as she climbed into her bed in her chambers to catch a few hours of sleep before dawn came, she would wonder if there was a reason she vanished so fast and dismissed it as a desire to return early so she wouldn't be missed.

But even deeper than that knowledge was the fact that she knew it was anything but that.

Ω

It was only a few hours after dawn when the next shocking thing in the last twelve hours occurred.

It began with a pounding on her door and Laena rolled over groaning, feeling as if she had just fallen into bed when the knocking had begun.

 _Damn those Wrackspurts! Why do they need to bother me this early in the morning?_

A moment later however, she realized it wasn't those pesky blue beings at all but rather someone trying to get her attention.

She had no sooner sat up and opened her mouth to call out for the person to enter when the door opened and the familiar form of her brother dashed in.

"Rhaegar?" Laena asked rubbing her eyes which felt as if sand had been shoved beneath her lids. "What on earth is the matter that you need to come to my room this early?"

It was then however that she noticed her brother's unruly hair and that he was wearing his own robe that he wore before bed and when he awakened in the morning which meant he had woken up not long before he had come here. His eyes were wild and as wide as he had ever seen them and he was pale even by Targaryen standards.

"Rhaegar?" she asked snapping to attention when she saw her brother breathing as if he had run a marathon. "What is the matter?"

Her twin brother was breathing hard and it took about ten seconds for him to be able to catch his breath before he could speak.

"You need to see this Laena," he said finally. "Something has happened."

"What?!" his sister demanded feeling more irritated than worried at the lack of answers she was receiving. "What has happened?"

Rhaegar stared at her for a moment and she noted the near wildness of his eyes and sat up even further, a sudden chill stealing over her.

"It's father Laena," he said softly. "He's dead."

The blonde stared at her brother for a moment in shock as if she had not heard him correctly. "I beg your pardon? What did you say?"

"Father….Father is dead," Rhaegar said again, his breath sounding more even as if he had just managed to catch it. "The guards discovered him this morning."

"How?" Laena asked in a small voice.

Different emotions were tussling for control in her mind but the most prominent one was one of intense relief. Her father had been as mad as a rabid dog and it had been time for him to go. Now whether that was by natural means or some magical option she still hadn't figured out, but it didn't seem to matter anymore.

However now it seemed that the decision had been taken out of her hands and had been made for her.

He was gone, he couldn't hurt anyone anymore, least of all her mother and now perhaps they could move forward without him.

"A servant found me no more than a quarter of an hour ago," Rhaegar said. "One of the younger girls and told me that the Lord Commander had requested I come to my father's room immediately. I thought it odd but everything about father generally is. I put on my robe and followed her but it wasn't until I turned down the hallway and saw several servants and every member of the Kingsguard standing before the king's door that I realized something was wrong.

"I hurried forward and pushed my way through the crowd as fast as I could only to find Ser Gerold standing at the door to my father's room looking as grim as I had ever seen him. I immediately demanded to know what was going on, but all he did was open the door and show me inside before stepping in and closing it behind us. I ventured into the room. And that was when I saw him."

Laena was out of bed at this point and putting her robe and slippers on. "Father? Was he in the bed?"

When she turned back around, Rhaegar had somehow turned a ghastly shade of green and her stomach dropped out from under her. "What happened Rhaegar?"

"Perhaps it would be better if I simply showed you," the crown prince or perhaps she should now be referred to him as king, said. "I don't think I could describe it."

A chill crept up Laena's skin and she now began to move twice as fast as she left the chamber following her brother and all but ran down the hall alongside him to the former king's chambers.

The entire way her mind was whirling with questions about what had happened. Rhaegar didn't seem to want to tell her anything until she saw it for herself and the fact that her father was dead now made her twin the king before he was eight and ten years old.

That was a scary prospect in its own right.

The sun was just beginning to rise in the windows they past and cast a dull pink and orange light on the floor of the halls but Laena barely noticed it.

When they reached the wing of the keep where the king's chambers were located, Laena skidded to a halt as she suddenly couldn't go forward any longer.

The hallway was now filled with people, mostly servants standing about and muttering amongst themselves.

This was not good.

Rhaegar cursed under his breath. "Where in the Seven Hells did all of these people come from?"

Just then the twins happened to see Ser Gerold and Prince Lewyn standing further down the hall in front of the king's door speaking in what appeared to be hushed but heated tones. They were keeping people well away from the door thankfully and glaring at anyone who came close.

The crowd of people who consisted of servants and other palace attendants had been murmuring somewhat loudly before Rhaegar and Laena had arrived then immediately fell silent upon seeing the crown prince and princess.

Rhaegar cursed again under his breath. "Ser Gerold!"

The aging knight turned at the sound of the prince's voice which had rung out rather loud in the crowded hallway and nodded at him. "Yes your grace?"

"Please clear this hallway," Rhaegar said in a stern voice. "There should not be anyone in this corridor other than my sister and the other members of the Kingsguard."

"Of course your grace," the Lord Commander replied and then began the process of shooing the curious servants away with the stern looks and the commanding tone he was so famously known for.

As people began to disperse, a path slowly emerged and Rhaegar grabbed Laena's hand, pulling her forward until they were standing in front of the door to the king's chambers.

It surprisingly didn't take that long to herd the remaining servants and attendants out of the wing but Laena made sure to wait until the hall was devoid of them all and only the Kingsguard had returned before she spoke.

Even though she hadn't seen Ser Arthur, Jonathar Darry, Ser Oswell Ser Barristan and Ser Jaime among the crowd of people, possibly because she hadn't been looking for them, Laena was surprised when the four of them suddenly appeared after helping Prince Lewyn herd the rest of the people away.

Ser Gerold in the meantime was waiting at the door of the king's chambers watching the proceedings with a grim frown on his face.

It wasn't until the hallway was once again clear that Laena turned to him. "When did you find my father Ser Gerold?"

"No more than twenty minutes ago your grace," the old knight said grimly. "There was nothing out of the ordinary until the moment there was a chilling scream that filled this entire hall. And it was coming from the inner chambers of the king. Immediately I threw the door open thinking that something was terribly wrong. And that was when I found him."

And then to her astonishment the fierce and loyal Lord Commander of the Kingsguard that she had known ever since she had awakened in this life as Laena Targaryen turned a ghostly shade of white and seemed to have lost his nerve to speak.

Something was terribly wrong here.

"You should see it for yourself Laena," her brother interrupted in order to save Ser Gerold some of his dignity and reached for the knob of the door.

Still confused but determined to get to the bottom of this, Laena nodded and pushed the door open, allowing her brother to step in and shut the door behind him.

As she looked about her father's room there appeared to be nothing too out of the ordinary. The bed was rumpled as if it had been slept in and there were several books strewn across it.

Light was beginning to fill the room as Aerys' chambers had always looked out upon the ocean and the rising sun.

There was a book shelf on the other side of the room which was filled to bursting with manuscripts. It had been a habit of her father to collect as much reading matter as possible in the last few years but for whatever it was, he did not say.

Just then, there was a splashing sound and Laena looked down in surprise to discover that the ground was wet.

"What is this Rhaegar?" she asked. But her brother seemed to have not moved an inch into the room and was keeping as close to the door as possible as it was still dry there.

The prince swallowed hard a few times and when he spoke again it was in a voice so low she barely heard him. "Go out onto the balcony Laena. He's there."

The princess frowned and was about to demand more answers when she turned and saw that the puddle of water she had stepped in wasn't in one solitary place.

In doing so she saw that the pool of it extended into the king's bed chamber and almost covered the bottom part of her feet, soaking through her silk slippers.

Laena uttered another curse and moved farther into the room, wondering where in the seven hells the source of the water was.

All of a sudden a shadow caught her attention and she turned towards it to see a short silhouette on the balcony overlooking the ocean. She frowned and peered closer, stepping gingerly over the puddle of water as quickly as she could towards it.

And that was when she saw him.

Goosebumps danced up and down Laena's arms and her mouth had gone completely dry. All the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and she could physically feel the blood draining from her face. Her hands began to tremble and she stiffened up like a board to the point where she could barely move.

This wasn't normal.

Aerys Targaryen had never been a man who did anything in half measures and he was just as ostentatious in life as he had been in death.

Truly Laena had never seen someone arrayed in such a manner post mortem and she didn't think she would ever be able to remove the image of her father in his chambers….dead…for the rest of her life or until Phil came to get her.

The closer she got to the balcony until she was finally standing on the threshold of it, the more horrified she became until finally she had ventured out onto the balcony and was looking at the face of the very much dead and unlamented Aerys Targaryen.

Her breath hitched in her throat and she didn't even hear the sound of her exhalation.

Aerys Targaryen, though very much dead looked far more frightening now than he ever had when he had sat on the Iron Throne.

He was on his knees before the balcony as if he had been about to pray but his hands were not clasped in front of him. Instead, they were hanging by his side useless and empty. Those hands that had been used to abuse her mother would never grip anything ever again.

But Laena's eyes didn't linger on his hands for long. Instead they slowly began to work their way up to his face and when they finally stopped there, her jaw worked for a moment before she was able to swallow.

Aerys had somehow throw his head back and was looking up to the heavens and the quickly lightening sky. Somehow his neck and back were curved so far back it was a wonder that he hadn't fallen over.

His mouth was open in a silent scream as wide as it would go and for a moment Laena remembered with a chill the face carved into the Black Gate from her dream.

His eyes were open wide as well but she had to do a double take when she realized that the purple irises in them had disappeared only to be replaced by stark white orbs.

Both of his eyes had become completely white as if he had gone blind only moments before death.

But that wasn't even the most horrifying part as his skin had turned ashy grey as if all the color had been leached from his it. The only part of him that still retained any sort of pigment was his hair which now seemed completely white as opposed to a very pale blonde.

As Laena glanced down to see if the color retraction was on his hands as well, it was then that she noticed something.

The water she had been stepping across in order to get to the balcony was coming from the king himself.

Laena jumped back with a curse and a gasp of horror and nearly collided with the railing of the balcony behind her.

She stared at her very dead father in terror for a moment before the pieces jammed together in her shocked and appalled brain.  
Whatever had killed Aerys had somehow leached all of the water from his body which had then filled the room almost to the door. It created a puddle around the king's bent knees and spread out before spreading back into the room and leaking to the bed, the desk and the bookshelf beyond.

 _Who….or what….could have done something like this?!_

Just them she felt something sticky beneath her hand and she sprang back from the balcony with a startled oath. Her nerves were already taut enough as she turned around and she didn't think she could handle any more surprises.

But as it turned out, what was on the balcony railing was more disturbing than finding her father in a kneeling position as if some sort of ancient being had killed him.

There were red words written on the balcony railing that she couldn't make out at first because of the still dim light but when she took a step closer, Laena was able to see what they were.

And for the second time that morning, the breath left her lungs in terror.

For written on the railing in what appeared to be blood were only two words.

 ** _He Comes_**

All of a sudden, her dream and the conversation with Ned stole over Laena like a distant storm that had crept up on her all at once and a sick feeling entered the pit of her stomach.

 _Who comes?_ She thought desperately to herself. _That Other that Ned saw in his dream? Or something worse?_

A moment later her mind wondered how the words could have been written in blood if all the water had been drained from Aerys body.

 _He must have written it before he died,_ she thought to herself. _There's no other explanation._

"Laena?" called out the quiet voice of her brother from somewhere back in the room. "Are you alright?"

"I'm…I'm not entirely sure how to answer that," she called back in a shaky voice. "Did you see the writing on the railing?"

"I did," he called back, his voice sounding as shaky as hers. "What do you think it means?"

"Nothing good," Laena replied swallowing hard. She really wished that Nargles were the sum total of her problems here as they had been when she was Luna Lovegood.

But this…this was worse and far more disturbing than anything she had encountered.

And it was then that she realized with a jolt something she had missed before.

Looking back at Aerys, she was able to see his position clearly this time and a chill stole over her when she suddenly fathomed the idea that her father had been kneeling in such a way that he was facing north.

And the words written in blood were so engraved on the north part of the railing of the balcony.

She glanced down at her trembling hands and willed the fire back into them, sighing in relief as she felt the flames engulf her hands for a moment before dying.

 _Phil knew what he was doing when he said I would need the fire,_ she thought grimly to herself. _I think the Wrackspurts are going to be the least of my problems after this._

After committing the entire scene to memory, Laena hurried back through the room, taking care to step as lightly as possible until she was standing by the door where her brother was.

"You saw all of it then?" he asked. His face was still a ghastly shade of green but it was slowly returning to its normal color.

"I did," she whispered. "And I think….I think our father saw something before he died Rhaegar. Something bad."

The prince ran a hand through his hair which accomplished nothing but making it even more unruly. "I think something bad has already happened Laena. What do the words mean? _Who_ is coming? _When_ is he coming?"

"I don't know," Laena replied grimly mentally cursing the Wrackspurts for her frazzled nerves. "But we need to find out and soon. For right now, no one should enter this chamber until Father's body is taken away and buried."

"Aye," her brother replied. "And we will need to announce to the rest of the realm that the king is dead, but we cannot tell others what we have seen. The last thing we need right now is panic. And if it is discovered that the king died of unknown causes and was found in a kneeling position on his balcony with all the water drained from his body and the words, _He Comes_ written in blood on the stone along with the fact that he was placed in a position facing north, then you can only imagine the terror and confusion.

We cannot allow this to get out."

"No, we can't," Laena. "Mother should know. But I don't know if she should actually see this. It might be too much for her."

"Perhaps," her brother replied. "So we will keep quiet about the manner of the king's death and come up with some sort of story to explain how he died."

Just then Laena had a terrible thought. "What about all of those people who were milling outside the door? What if they saw this?"

"I don't think that they did," Rhaegar said and it seemed to be the only thing he was sure about. "Ser Gerold told me that when he found our father in this position he immediately shut the door and called for a servant to go and fetch me. All those people milling about must have thought something was wrong with the king or that he was ill and the fact that one servant could cause all that gossip worries me. But Ser Gerold told me that he had allowed no one in but me after he found father."

"Good," Laena said letting out a sigh of relief. "That's one less thing to worry about then."

"Aye it is."

"Who will you send for to take away the body?" Laena asked and her brother sighed. "I will not send for Pycelle because the news of the manner of the king's death would all over the capital by nightfall and we cannot have that."

"Very well then," Laena said and quickly banished the water with a wave of her hand. Once the floor was clear, she strode back onto the balcony and levitated Aerys over to his bed before covering him with a blanket and using a glamour to cover the words on the balcony.

Rhaegar let out a sigh of relief a moment later. "Thank you Laena. It will be easier to come up with a story now."

His sister nodded. "You will need to explain to the court and soon that father is dead and that your coronation will be as soon as possible."

"Coronation?" her twin asked and he looked slightly dazed as he said it, as if it was something he hadn't considered before.

"Yes," Laena said quietly. "You are the king now Rhaegar. Father's dead and now you will sit on the throne and wear the crown."

"Gods this is all happening so fast," her brother muttered. "I don't even know how father died."

"Does it matter?" Laena asked. "He was a monster yes, but I think something even more monstrous killed him. I…I don't think a human did this Rhaegar. I think….I think this was something more…sinister than that. More magical even."

"I feared as much," Rhaegar replied. "This just exacerbates my worries that something sinister is stirring beyond the realm. North…in that land of ice and snow."

"I know," Laena replied. "But for the moment, we need to deal with the present, namely the realm we do know and the people living in this keep. We need to tell them and put things in order. The king is dead."

"Aye the king is dead," her twin whispered.

Laena took a deep breath and looked up at her brother who still looked unnaturally pale. "Then long live King Rhaegar Targaryen, First of his Name. King of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm."

Ω

 **And so the plot thickens. Also I have some exciting news to share. I have begun construction on my first ever book which is an exhilarating but scary process when first starting out. In some ways it is much easier to write fanfiction as the world has already been constructed for you and your just have to create one original plot or character. This novel will be a fantasy and all thank to George Martin will also be loosely based on a historical event. I like to think that while Martin used the historical Wars of the Roses for the basic idea of A Song of Ice and Fire, I will be using another historical event as a rough base for mine. And said historical event will be the Crusades. I always found that event to be one of the most fascinating of ancient medieval history and I am so excited to create my own world and my own characters. World building and origins are almost complete and I have already come up with a few characters as well as a rough plot and story line. Hopefully the first chapter will be finished soon and I will post it to my account on Wattpad. I will be putting notifications of this in all my other stories as well. I would love your guys support on this as we go on this journey together. Anyway, that's all for now, I'll post more details about my book as they come. The title of it unless anything changes and I come up with another idea will be _The Crucible_. More on this later though. I hope you guys like this chapter and don't forget to review. Happy reading everyone!**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The bells rang throughout the city for the next seven days.

Every hour they would toll for the death of the king and the crowning of the new one, causing everyone in the city to stop and look up at the Sept of Baelor as its mournful sound rang throughout the capital.

Preceding that however, in the hour after they had discovered Aerys, Laena and Rhaegar had been incredibly busy.

Fortunately Pycelle had not been the only maester in the keep as Rhaella didn't trust the old man and Rhaegar had commissioned another for her to come from the Citadel when she was pregnant with Baelor.

His name was Vymas and they had called for him instead to come and prepare the body for burial.

Thankfully, Pycelle had been none the wiser and after another hour of waiting for the embalming process to be complete, the king was placed on a pallet and covered down with a sheet so that he could be taken to the sept.

From there, the knights of the Kingsguard would stand vigil for seven days until Rhaegar was crowned.

Or at least they would have if her twin hadn't insisted for a much faster burial process and stated that after one day, Aerys was to be placed in the crypt whereupon he would be crowned king.

No one but himself and Laena knew why he was in such a hurry however.

The bells still tolled but their tolling was only an honorary measure for King Aerys even though privately no one would miss him.

Rhaella had taken the news of her husband's death with great constancy and had remained expressionless the entire time she was being told. It was only after that she had allowed herself to break down in tears of relief that the monster was dead and she would never again have to suffer a brutal beating from his hands. Her children would be safe and grow up without his taint and her son would now be king.

Laena would never have to worry about what sort of man her father would choose for her and Baelor would no longer have to live in fear. He had been terrified of his father and she was even more grateful to Laena for having shielded him from the worst of it.

The red keep could become a bright and happy place again under Rhaegar's rule, justice would be brought back along with prosperity and hope for a safer future.

The entire family stood together at the front of the Sept of Baelor for one hour while the nobles of the city and those who had managed to come to the capital in time populated the rest of the space along with those common folk who had slipped in at the last second.

The streets were packed with people, more so because they were hoping to learn something else about the sudden death of the king other than sadness at his passing.

And Laena couldn't blame them.

Five people in the keep knew what had happened to her father and it would need to be so for the foreseeable future.

The sept was utterly silent as the High Sparrow droned on about the reign and passing of King Aerys, Laena found her thoughts straying to Ned and what was going to happen now. Her brother was about to take the throne and things were stirring in the far north. A period of enormous change had come over the realm and Laena could only hope that they were ready for the result of these changes.

The day after the formal funeral and burial for her father, Laena was back in the same sept watching her brother kneel before the High Septon as a crown was placed upon his head and a smaller one was placed upon Elia's.

That was one change that her brother had made from the previous dragon kings. He had insisted that his queen be crowned alongside him and the glow on Elia's face when he had announced this to her was worth it to see to believe.

Rhaella had approved and Laena felt certain that Prince Doran would as well.

Elia was the picture of beauty and grace as she took Rhaegar's hand and knelt beside him in the sept. Laena felt quite pleased with her good sister and her brother's decision to acknowledge her in the sight of the realm.

 _He is going to be a good king,_ she thought to herself as she stood in the sept with her family, dressed in her best clothes and holding Baelor's hand.

When the royal family left the sept to return to the keep, the bells once again sent up a great tolling in honor of the new king and the changing of the hands of power.

"Is Rhaegar the king now Laena?" Baelor asked in his curious four year old voice with his eyes wide as he watched his brother and Elia get back into the wheelhouse to return to the keep.

"He is," Laena replied. "And he will be a great king."

"Better than father?" Baelor asked somewhat fearfully and Laena knew he was only comparing the two of them as he had no other example to go after.

"He will be much better than father little brother," she replied. "Rhaegar will be the greatest king the realm has ever seen."

Ω

A few days after her brother's coronation, Laena was sitting quietly with her good sister out in the gardens of the keep on the terrace overlooking the ocean. The both of them had their embroidery in hand and were compensating every so often with sips of the wine that had been brought for them.

It was a beautiful sunny day and it was only exacerbated by the look of peace on Elia's face.

Every so often, she would glanced down at her still flat stomach and rest her hand gently atop it before looking out to sea again.

Laena knew she was thinking about her baby that was to come.

"Boy or girl?" she asked and her new sister looked up at her in surprise for a moment. Understanding cleared her beautiful face a second later however and she answered the dragon princess with a smile.

"Ideally a boy would be best as an heir to the throne is always something that will be cause for celebration and to put people's minds at ease," she began. "But I would be happy with either. As long as they are healthy, I do not care if it's a boy or girl that comes first. And I don't think Rhaegar would care either."

"You're right, he wouldn't," Laena agreed. "As you and the baby are healthy it would not matter to him. In fact I think that if it were to be a girl than my brother would want to move heaven and earth to ensure that she was the heir to the Iron Throne. Wouldn't it be lovely if the line of succession could be how it was in Dorne? Where it really didn't matter who was born first, it was eldest child who took over after their parents passed?"

"That would be lovely," Elia sighed. "Unfortunately for the rest of the realm, they cannot stand the idea of a woman ruling whereas we in Dorne do not care. Power is power and it knows no gender. But this is all wishful thinking. I will give Rhaegar a son and he will be a great king just like his father."

"Indeed," Laena said raising her wine glass. "That is something I will drink to."

Elia chuckled and animatedly raised her own glass when all of a sudden, they were interrupted.

"Forgive me your grace," said a nervous voice and both Elia and Laena turned around to see a young man dressed in servants clothes standing there and wringing his hands slightly.

"Yes?" Laena asked.

"Forgive me your grace," he said again. "But the King is desirous of both of your presence in his solar right away. He says it is important."

Laena and Elia exchanged glances and frowned. "Then I suppose we had better not keep my wayward brother waiting."

"Aye, we should not," Elia said with a slight chuckle. "I know how impatient he can become."

The two of them stood up and walked arm in arm back through the gardens into the keep and down the halls to the solar of the king.

While Rhaegar had decided his own chambers would be the royal apartments and those of Aerys were to be vacated for the good of everyone in the keep, he had moved some of the late king's things to his own chambers as anything his father had been studying, Rhaegar wanted to know about.

Upon reaching the door, Laena and Elia were bowed to by Ser Gerold and shown into the room where Rhaegar was sitting at his desk.

The window was open to let in the breeze and the sunshine and his carefully made bed stood off in the corner.

There was a wing adjacent to the bed where the desk was situated and had several maps hanging on the wall behind it. The desk itself was covered in papers.

To their surprise, Rhaella was also present, sitting on a chair that had been brought in for her and looked just as confused and intrigued as they were.

Laena waited until the door was closed and threw up a quick silencing charm before turning to her brother with a frown. "What is going on Rhaegar?"

Her twin sighed and got up from his chair before folding his hands behind his back. The last two weeks had been busy ones for him as he had been working to come up with solutions for the problems in the realm that his father had ignored.

"I wanted the three of you here today because I have come up with a few idea that I think will benefit our family and the realm in the long run," he said to them and a glance was exchanged between all three women. Asking for advice was never something Aerys had done and all were confident that Rhaegar's start as a king was going to translate over into a prosperous rule for the rest of the realm.

"What are my love?" Elia asked.

Rhaegar gave her a gentle smile before becoming stoic again. "Firstly, my father has caused serious damage to our relationship with some of our allies, namely Tywin Lannister. In order to repair this I am going to need to give something back to him as a sign of good faith. Namely his heir."

Laena glanced at her mother and could see that while she was surprised at the gesture, she was pleased by it nonetheless. Tywin Lannister was a dangerous man to have for an enemy and the more they could do to right the wrongs of Aerys, the better.

In a way it was opportunistic that Aerys had died when he had because they were able to repair his mistakes before they became irresolvable.

"I also plan on offering him the position of Hand of the King back," Rhaegar went on. "Lannister is a dangerous man but I would rather have him near me than far. If there is a wasp in the room, I'd like to be able to see it rather than it going away. By doing this it will ensure that we no longer have the enmity of the Lannisters and make the realm more secure."

"It's a good plan," Laena replied. "Just use caution when dealing with Tywin Lannister brother. While I like Jaime a good deal, he and his father are polar opposites and he may make a further grab for power if he sees an opportunity."

"Your sister has a point," Rhaella continued. "It is a good plan my son, just be wary of the old lion's plans. Power is something he will never grow less hungry for and he might interpret your youth as naiveté and try to use it to his advantage. He was the hand under your father for a long time and he practically ruled the realm while Aerys sunk into madness. Be careful not to let him do the same thing here."

"I thank you for your advice Laena, mother. But I have no intention of giving Tywin Lannister more power than is necessary," Rhaegar replied and he seemed confident in his answer.

Rhaella nodded sharply. "Good. But I assume that that is not all you wish to tell us."

"No is it not. I am also planning to dismiss Pycelle as grand maester. He is too old and a part of me feels he is far too sneaky to trust. I will quietly send a letter to the citadel asking for a replacement for him. He should have been gone a long time ago. And I plan to dismiss Jon Connington as well."

This was a the cause for all eyebrows in the room but Rhaegar's to rise.

Connington had been appointed Hand since Tywin Lannister had resigned his post and Rhaegar had become increasingly uncomfortable about his presence since he had arrived. For some odd reason, Connington dislike Elia and seemed to bear an almost unnatural sort of…affection for Rhaegar.

He had served at the court for a while before Tywin Lannister had left and had once been a friend to Rhaegar but as time had gone on, the prince had grown more and more suspicious of him.

About few months ago, Laena had had enough with Connington's odd awareness of her brother and so had decided to do some snooping around his chambers to see what the man's motives really were.

What she had found was disturbing.

In Connington's private log there had been mad scribbled writings about his obsession with Rhaegar whom he had nicknamed his silver prince. There were pages upon pages of his encounters with Rhaegar throughout the years, what they had talked about, when Rhaegar had confided in him for whatever reason as the two had been friends.

Connington fancied himself in love with her brother and Laena had been singularly disturbed at how deep his fixation had run.

She was even more alarmed to read about Connington's disdain and disgust for Elia who he had written multiple times as being unworthy of her brother and how Aerys had made a mistake choosing her for him.

Immediately she had brought the journals to her brother's attention who had been similarly appalled and disturbed.

Laena had suggested getting rid of him right away but Rhaegar didn't really want to kill him. He just wanted him as far from his family as possible and now they had a legitimate excuse. Connington was also a poor hand and needed to give way for a more intelligent one.

While Laena had no love for Tywin Lannister, he would be much better than Connington and she was eager to see him gone.

Both Rhaella and Elia had been brought up to speed however and were cautioned about being wary around Connington.

Laena glanced at her good sister's face and was pleased to see a relieved expression there. She knew Elia would be able to rest easier after the Lord of Griffin's Roost was gone.

"Good," Rhaella said tightly. "I never liked him. He would have done anything to stay close to you Rhaegar."

The king looked uncomfortable. "Aye and I don't want him around my wife any longer. I no longer trust that he would have this family's interests at heart."

Laena bristled and Elia looked pale but she nodded.

Rhaegar sighed and rolled his shoulders as if he were brushing off some dark feeling before he moved on to the next piece of business.

"Now there is one final thing I wish to discuss and it is with regard to my sister," he said glancing at Laena. She frowned at him in question but he had a small smile on his face so it made her think that what he was about to say was good news.

"What is it?" she asked.

"After some thought," her brother went on. "I have decided that it might be a good idea for you to marry sister."

A stunned silence followed his answer and Laena could practically see her mother gearing up for a rant but was silenced when Rhaegar threw a look her way. "There is no need for a tirade mother about how I should have discussed this with you. I am the king and I know what I am doing."

Rhaella fell silent but folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes at her first born.

"I hope so," she muttered.

Rhaegar turned back to his sister who was watching him carefully. She had had a feeling that a marriage arrangement would be soon in coming for her so she wasn't too surprised. She just hoped she and her brother were on the same page in this matter.

And as it turned out with twins, they often were and sure enough the same held true now.

Rhaegar looked as if he was trying not smile and it was then that Laena truly knew her twin had her happiness in mind.

"Given the information that we have learned coming out of the north lately," Rhaegar began. "I think it might be a good idea to connect our family more closely to that area. And so, with your permission Laena, I was planning to write to Lord Rickard Stark with the intention of betrothing you to his son Lord Eddard."

This time Laena didn't even try to stop the large grin that spread across her face at this knowledge. A modicum of relief overtook her and she hadn't realized just how worried she was about her own marriage until the worry was taken away.

She knew Rhaegar would want her to be safe and happy and this result only confirmed it. She would be given to the only man that she really wanted deep down.

Her brother's smile mirrored her own but had more of a smirk to it as Elia and Rhaella looked back and forth between them.

"Would that be agreeable to you?" her brother asked.

Laena felt her cheeks burn slightly but looked Rhaegar right in the eye when she answered, albeit softly. "It would. Thank you."

"Of course," Rhaegar said with a smile. "I had hoped that it would make you happy."

"Are you certain of this Rhaegar?" Rhaella asked with some concern. "Lord Eddard is an honorable ma, but he is still the second son of Lord Rickard and does not stand to inherit."

"I am certain mother," Rhaegar replied calmly. "And seeing as how Lord Eddard is to wed a royal princess, Lord Rickard will have no choice but to find a holdfast for his son. Laena will have her own keep."

"But her children will not inherit the north," Rhaella replied.

Rhaegar glanced at Laena and he had an odd look on his face that caused her to frown. it was sort of furrowed and far away as if he was remembering something that only he knew. His purple eyes became almost glassy and he sat more fully back in his chair, eyes turning towards the window.

"Don't be too sure about that," he said quietly. "This whole experience with father has taught me that nothing lasts forever. We need to be prepared for anything."

There was a long silence following this and Elia cleared her throat to break the sudden tension in the room.

"I think it's a wonderful idea Rhaegar. You will send the letter to Lord Rickard today then?"

"I will," her husband replied. "It is my wish to see my sister safe and happy, and she will have both with Eddard Stark."

"Very well then," Rhaella replied. "Was there anything else you wished to tell us my son?"

"No mother."

"Good, then I believe I ought to go and check on your youngest brother. He is learning to ride his first horse when the servant came to find me about this meeting," Rhaella replied.

Rhaegar's face lit up and he smiled. "I would like to see that. Baelor has been clamoring to ride a horse for at least the last six months."

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Elia asked. "Shall we go see him?"

She had had a soft spot in her heart for Baelor since she had come to the capital and the two had bonded over their love of horses.

As the four of them left the king's chambers and Ser Gerold and Prince Lewyn fell into step beside them, Laena fell back to align her steps with her brother.

"Thank you," she whispered again.

His small smile told her he knew what she was talking about. "You can thank good timing sister. You were going to be wed sooner or later and I would sooner see you married to someone who made you happy rather than some power hungry lord. I and mother knew from the first time I saw you dance with Lord Eddard at my wedding festivities that he was going to be special to you. He is an honorable man and in my eyes that is the most important thing. His actions in saving Baelor makes him of an inestimable value to this family as he has shown he will protect it even though this union was in no one's mind."

Laena blushed and was once more thankful for a brother like Rhaegar who would always have her best interests at heart.

"I do have one more question though," she said as they walked.

"And that is?"

"When mother said my children with Lord Eddard would not inherit the north….you said that she shouldn't be too sure about that. It was as if you knew something….did you?"

Rhaegar seemed to grow tired right then and he pulled back nodding for Prince Lewyn to go on with his mother and wife.

"Are you coming?" Elia asked as she stopped a little further down the hallway and looked at her sister in law and husband.

"We'll be there in a moment my love," Rhaegar replied. "You go on with mother. And tell Baelor not to start his first tourney without us."

Elia's face broke into a smile at the joke and then nodded before taking the arm of Rhaella and walking off with her.

Ser Gerold stayed back a distance while Prince Lewyn went on with his niece and the queen.

Laena faced her twin then who almost appeared haggard right then as if he hadn't slept well and had been hiding all throughout the meeting he had had with them.

"What is it?" she asked.

Rhaegar sighed and ran a hand through his messy silvery hair. Laena was struck then at how sudden his new kingship had been thrust upon him and how he was still adjusting to everything.

"I didn't tell you this because I didn't want you to worry and I wasn't sure if it yet meant anything," he said. "But not long after father had been found dead a week ago, I too had a dream. But this time it didn't have anything to do with the Others. But it did have to do with the Starks. Specifically Brandon Stark."

Laena blinked and then recalled something about Ned telling her how his father had sent his brother north to the Wall to meet with the Lord Commander about the threat of the wildlings.

"What about him?" she asked.

"Don't take this to heart Laena as I have no idea whether this dream will have basis in reality," Rhaegar began. "But the dream itself started off with myself. Only I was much older in this picture, at least ten years. And I was sitting on the iron throne with Elia by my side. And we had five children, three sons and two daughters. Some had blonde hair and some had dark brown hair but all of them had violet eyes. And then the dream shifted."

"How?" Laena asked.

"I was seeing the great keep of Winterfell then and my vision swooped forward as if I were being flown into it. Then I saw you sitting at the desk in a certain solar. You were reading a letter but then someone walking into the room and it was Lord Eddard. He had aged some and so had you but the both of you still looked youthful. He was carrying a child in his arms, a little boy. He had Stark hair and features…but when I got a better look at him, I saw that he had your eyes sister."

Laena gasped and felt a lump begin to gather in her throat.

"And then?" she asked.

"You asked Lord Eddard where he had found him and he replied that he had been ignoring his nurses and had gone wandering throughout the keep before the kennel master had found him watching the hounds.

"And then you said….that it is unbefitting of the heir to Winterfell and the north to act like a street urchin. Lord Eddard laughed and then said that you must allow your son time to be a child."

"Eddard was the Warden of the North?" Laena asked in a whisper. "But how? His brother stands to inherit everything?"

"That was my wonder too for it was not long after that I awakened and thought to myself what was the source of the dream. I decided to ignore it for the time being but a few nights later was when I had the dream again and then I decided it wasn't something to be ignored."

A cold chill worked its way down Laena's back then. "When I was visiting Ned in the Eyrie…he told me that his brother had gone to the Wall to meet with the Lord Commander about dealing with the threat of the wildlings. He had left several weeks ago."

Rhaegar's eyes narrowed. "You don't think that he – "

Laena shook her head, "I don't know what to think. I think dreams have more power than we know and I think that we need to pay more attention to them. Suppose Brandon Stark dies at the Wall or gods forbid north of it and Ned is proclaimed the new lord of Winterfell and there was something we might have been able to do to prevent his death if we had said something. I would never be able to look Ned in the face again. I don't care if he's never made Warden of the North as a result of an accident. No one deserves to lose their family. You must write to Lord Rickard right away and ask him to send for his son immediately before something terrible happens."

"Do you think something terrible is going to happen?" the king asked.

"I don't know," Laena whispered. "And that is the scariest truth of all."

Ω

 _Two weeks later…._

 _Why hasn't this bloody fool reported in yet? Or at least sent a raven to me detailing his progress? He knows better than that! I thought we were past this rebellious stage of his!_

Needless to say, Rickard Stark was not having a good day.

About a moon and a half prior, he had sent his son and heir to the Wall to assist the Lord Commander who was having trouble dealing with the ever encroaching threat of the wildlings. He had decided it was high time Brandon start taking some responsibility in the north, instead of whoring and fighting like a baseborn bastard.

His marriage to Catelyn Tully was imminent and he needed to settle down, complete his duty and provide an heir for the north.

The pup had given Rickard more grey hair in the last five years than all four of his children in his entire lifetime.

Brandon was headstrong, stubborn, quick tempered and had been a fool many times. He could also be incredibly selfish and dense and let his wolf's blood speak for him on more than one occasion.

Not for the first time did Rickard wish Eddard had been born first.

His second son would have been ideal for the north as he was calm, patient, compassionate and honorable. He also wanted nothing to do with power and was driven by duty.

The north needed a firm hand and not someone who would squander its future on the whims of an immature wild wolf.

Rickard loved his son, he did, but it was time for him to cease acting like a boy and begin acting as the Lord that the north needed.

And this was why he had sent his son to the Wall to view the threat of the wildlings and perhaps aid the Lord Commander in putting together a plan to deal with them.

It would teach him resilience and independence by putting his mind to work. And Rickard hoped to the gods that he would come back with a better understanding of what it was what the north needed.

But he had been gone for weeks and other than a raven two weeks earlier detailing the fact that he had arrived, there had been no further news.

And Rickard was at a loss as to why.

He had told his eldest to inform him of the solutions he and the Lord Commander discussed and there had been nothing from the north since.

The Warden of the north sighed and tossed the piece of parchment he had been reading back onto his desk.

Ever since Lyarra's death his eldest son and only daughter had become unmanageable. Lyanna was making her distaste for her marriage to Lord Robert increasingly more obvious and even though he had spoken to her on it a number of times, she refused to see his point of view.

Thank the gods for Eddard and Benjen, they were the ones keeping him sane right now.

And speaking of Eddard, he would need to begin thinking on the marriage of his second son before long.

Rickard intended to rebuild Moat Cailin with the help of House Reed and offer it to his second son as his keep. The ancestral seat had long since been abandoned and he would have it settled and ruled once more.

The north needed to be strong, for winter was coming.

Just then there was a tap on the door and Maester Walys poked his head into the solar. "Forgive me for interrupting Lord Stark but there is a raven newly arrived from the south that I feel needs to be brought to your attention."

Rickard ran a hand through his hair. "Bring it in Walys, who is it from?"

The maester paused for a moment before answering. "From King Rhaegar Targaryen my lord."

Rickard's eyebrow threatened to disappear into his hairline at this news.

The realm had been surprised and privately relieved at the death of Aerys Targaryen several weeks earlier. It was said that he died in bed in his sleep which was far too passive for a man who had done some of the things that he had.

If the rumors that Rickard had heard were true than the man was more than a monster…a demon in disguise of a king perhaps.

But then his even keeled son had immediately taken over and seemed to be putting things in order. The first thing he had done was to release Ser Jaime Lannister from the Kingsguard. No doubt it had been a favor to his father Lord Tywin who had been insulted by Aerys stealing of his heir.

And then he had purportedly dismissed Jon Connington, the current Hand and reinstated Tywin Lannister which was another shocking revelation.

Rickard's spies in the capital had reported to him that Connington had been shocked with the young king's dismissal of him but when he had asked why, he had only received the cold answer that he had broken the king's trust.

Whatever the seven hells _that_ meant.

Supposedly Grand Maester Pycelle had also been dismissed before Tywin Lannister was reinstated. The king had claimed he was too old to properly serve the crown and had already sent to the citadel for another younger maester.

 _Perhaps he is not so green as we all once thought,_ Rickard had mused to himself with slight approval.

And now he was receiving a message from the new king.

To say this was odd was to say water was damp.

Rickard held out his hand for the letter which Walys cautiously placed it into before eying the seal with the red dragon on a black field before breaking it.

He scanned the page and his eyebrows rose higher and higher until he felt his skin stretch as far as it would go.

"My lord?" Walys asked. "Is everything alright?"

Rickard didn't answer right away, his eyes were too busy looking over one of the lines in the letter from the new king.

 _As a result of inside information, it is my humble desire that there be a closer connection between the north and the crown than simple loyalty and sworn oaths. I am aware that your heir Brandon Stark is betrothed to Catelyn Tully but this matter concerns my sister. It is my intention to propose a union of north and south with Laena Targaryen and your son Eddard Stark.  
_

 _As to the matter of the Wall, it has come to my attention that the threat posed by the wildings is growing worse. Perhaps it would be advantageous to meet and discuss possible solutions to this problem with you and your heir present. After all a matter that affects the north is a matter that affects all of the Seven Kingdoms._

Of all the things he had been expecting to hear about from the new king, a marriage alliance certainly wasn't one of them.

On any other day he might have wondered at the sanity of the King in offering his only sister to the second son of the Warden of the north.

It was unheard of.

 _What game is the new king playing?_ Rickard wondered to himself as he rubbed his chin and mused, leaning back in his chair. _What possible advantage could he see in_ _wedding his sister and the only Targaryen princess to Eddard? He will inherit a keep of his own but it is nowhere near as extensive as Winterfell and he will be a sworn banner to his brother. What incentives are there in such a union?_

And then he read the first line again and his frown deepened.

 _As a result of inside information…._ what in the Seven Hells did that mean?

Could the king possibly be aware of the wilding situation to the far north and wish to aid them in beating back their enemy?

If this was the case, it was a shocking thing as he would be the first king in a long while to do so. If Rhaegar Targaryen was one dragon king who finally took the Wall seriously as the First Men did then perhaps he would usher in a much more prosperous and stable age from his father.

"My Lord?" Walys asked.

Rickard still didn't answer as part of him was still confused and the other part was downright gleeful.

He had been considering options for a bride for his second son and here one had come along and fallen right into his lap.

And not just any woman…no, the sister of the King Laena Targaryen herself!

Were the old gods smiling on them finally? It was the only thing that made sense.

Privately Rickard wondered what Tywin Lannister would think of the princess being given to a second son and then decided that it didn't matter one way or another.

Yes, this was fortunate indeed. It had been a long time since a Stark and Targaryen had been wed and his son would be the one to break the dry spell.

He immediately set the letter down and set about penning a reply to the king. Once this was completed, he pressed it closed with his own personal seal and then went about writing a letter to Eddard.

He had a feeling his son would be surprised by the swiftness of this proposal but he knew Eddard wouldn't combat it.

Plus if some of the stories he had heard from Brandon were true when they had been in the capital for King Rhaegar's wedding to princess Elia, then it seemed as if Laena Targaryen had made an impression on his son and he on her.

Yes, this would be a most advantageous match.

Once the letter to Ned was finished as well as the one for the king he handed them both to Walys and bid him send them with all haste.

After this he got up from the chair at his desk and walked to the window to look down into the courtyard.

Lyanna was sparring with Benjen again and doing a right better job of it than his youngest son. Gods he needed to do something about that girl….and soon.

Just then there was a pounding of footsteps outside of his solar and Walys burst in waving a letter.

"What is it?" Rickard barked with more than his usual fervor.

"A letter from the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch my lord," Walys gasped as if he had been running.

A surge of relief went through him. "Brandon. Finally."

Quickly Rickard took hold of the letter and opened it only to be confronted with his second surprise of the day.

He read it twice and then swallowed hard, steeling his hands to not begin shaking.

The words, _missing….beyond the Wall….expedition….threat of wildlings….cautioned not to….wouldn't listen…._ swam before his eyes.

A horrible feeling listed over him then and he closed his eyes to try and block it out. _In the name of the old gods Brandon Stark….what have you done?_

Ω

 **DUN DUN DUN! Don't forget to review!**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Surprisingly it was a rather quiet morning in the High Hall before the raven turned up. The only four occupants in the room were Jon Arryn, Robert Baratheon, Elbert Arryn the heir to the Vale and Jon's nephew and Ned Stark who were all in various stages of breaking their fasts.

The morning had come with a grey and cloud filled sky that promised rain and perhaps a combination of thunder and lightning.

Something was moving….he could smell it in the wind.

As it turned out, it was a day of signs and portents for everyone in that hall.

Ever since Ned had begun having those dreams…he called them wolf visions, he had found that his senses had become sharper. He could see farther with a narrower focus, his sense of smell was heightened and he could often differentiate between all the current smells in the air when he was in the training yard with Robert and name each one.

The physical sensation of touch was more acute as well and Ned found he was more conscious of the different textures in everything he touched from the tunics he wore to the hilt of his sword to the worn covers of the books he read and the rough-hewn wooden tables that he rested his hands upon.

It was both curiously euphoric and deeply alarming as he felt like his own physical being was preparing for something, switching itself into a higher plane of existence that it had never needed to go to before.

He was tempted to speak to Lord Arryn about what was going on but at the moment it seemed that the Warden of the East had enough on his mind.

Every so often, Jon would look up from the pile of letters he was reading to sink his teeth into a piece of bread that had been freshly buttered and glare at the words on the parchment as if he were daring them for a fight.

Robert was shovelling his porridge into his mouth and Ned was doing his best not to pay attention to it as it was enough to turn anyone's stomach all the way around.

But he always ate that way so after a time Ned had simply become used to it. He hoped though that when Robert would eventually settle down and marry that he would learn some sort of manners.

Thanks be to the old gods and the new that no formal agreement had been put forth between him and Lyanna as yet. It was an idea that his father had been toying with up until this point. Ned had made the mistake of mentioning it to Robert who had jumped on board with the idea and now was hard pressed to forget about it.

Ned picked at the bacon on his plate and wondered if his father was going to send a raven at some point regarding Brandon's trip to the Wall. He didn't know why but he had had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach since he had learned that Brandon had ridden north.

Although nothing had happened to alarm him outside of his dreams, the quiet was beginning to unnerve Ned.

He also hadn't received a letter from Princess Laena lately either. He had sent her one offering his condolences on the death of her father as well as his congratulations on seeing her brother crowned king. But so far no personal word had come from the capital.

He had been a little relieved to receive the news that Aerys Targaryen was dead. The man had been spiralling into a black hole of madness for far too long with the entirety of the realm holding its breath and wondering what in the seven hells he would do next.

He had angered and worried enough nobles to start a possible internal conflict and Ned's thoughts had turned to Laena Targaryen, wondering about her wellbeing living in a keep with such a mad man.

But just when he thought things couldn't become tenser, it was suddenly as if the right hand of providence had reached down and from the heavens and smote the man before he did something foolish and started a civil war.

Ned had had a feeling that the entire realm had breathed a collective sigh of relief when the news had been received.

Some of the hard lines in Jon's face had smoothed out and he had appeared slightly more relaxed as time had gone on.

But with news of certain swift changes that the young king had implemented, eyebrows had risen all over the realm and older lords had begun to muse about what sort of different game was being played.

Jaime Lannister had been released from the Kingsguard almost immediately following Rhaegar's coronation and Tywin Lannister had returned to the capital as the new king's Hand.

It was almost as if Rhaegar Targaryen had been watching his father closely for years and had noted every single one of his failures which he was now rectifying in rapid fire succession. It was both reassuring and somewhat confusing.

Just then Jon made a particularly loud grunting sound from the other end of the table and Ned looked up from his breakfast to stare at the man who had become his second farther. "Is something wrong Lord Arryn?"

The aging lord shook his head. "No. Nothing is ever wrong these days Eddard, but they are bloody confusing."

"What's confusing this time Jon?" Robert asked around a mouthful of porridge.

Ned barely restrained himself from cringing.

Jon didn't notice and simply held the letter he was reading higher. "It would seem that our new king is implementing serious changes to his small council. The only current vassals that are retaining their posts are Lord Varys as the Master of Whispers and Ser Gerold Hightower as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and that is only because men of the Kingsguard serve for life.

"Qarlton Chelsted as Master of Coin has been dismissed, Master of Laws Symund Staunted is gone. Lucerys Velaryon and grand maester Pycelle are all gone. The small council has undergone a complete overhaul!"

Ned blinked in surprise. "Who will be replacing all of those who have been dismissed?"

Jon was silent for a long moment as he scanned even further down the page and then his eyebrows rose so high Ned was certain they were going to disappear into his hairline. His hand which had been holding the side of the letter tightened slightly above the paper causing creases to fragment out of the fingers.

"What is it?" Ned asked in alarm.

Jon took up the cup by his plate and drained it before setting it back on the table with a thump and answering.

"It would seem that our new king has already made the decision on a new master of laws," the aging lord said in a low voice. "And the honor has fallen to me."

A moment of astonished silence sunk heavy over the occupants of the High Hall. It was broken shortly after when Elbert Arryn let out an astonished laugh and clapped Jon on the shoulder.

"Why that's wonderful Uncle! It's about time that the royal family took advantage of your talents. There is truly no one more deserving of the honor than you!"

"Thank you Elbert," Jon said somewhat faintly as if his mind was a million miles away but his narrowed eyes were still scanning the letter. "But this raven also requires that I leave for King's Landing immediately."

Robert began coughing violently on the mouthful of ale he had just taken, forcing Ned to slap him rather hard on the back.

"Immediately!" the young lord of Storm's End muttered. "But what will happen with Ned and I? Are we to leave as well?"

It was a legitimate question and Ned eyed his mentor carefully. He had been expecting to return to Winterfell in a few months so he supposed he would simply have to depart earlier than expected. His father had been hinting that he had selected a place for Ned in the north where he would hold his own keep and be a sworn bannerman to his brother.

Though a lot more freedom was being offered to him as the second son, Ned was somewhat pleased and overwhelmed that his father thought so much of him as to offer him his own seat of power no matter how small.

Maybe returning now and learning which hold his father had in mind for him and learning how to govern it wouldn't be such a bad idea.

The only holdfast that Ned could think of that was in need of some care and habitation was Moat Cailin. Frankly it had fallen into a state of extreme disrepair and had been so for decades.

And if his suspicions were correct, the defense of the north needed to be shorn up as soon as possible in order to combat what might be coming from beyond the Wall.

A cold wind seemed to blow through the High Hall from the open windows then and unconsciously Ned shivered.

Jon sighed and ran a hand through his salt and pepper hair before turning to his nephew. "Upon my departure Elbert you are the acting Lord of the Eyrie. It's high time you begin learning its workings and knowing the people you will one day rule over. I will defer to your judgement in what you feel is right after I am gone. The east is in your hands, rule it well. Will you agree to this?"

Elbert had gone pale at Jon's solemn declaration and he swallowed hard a few times, the weight of what was happening fully resonating with him. "Yes uncle…I will. I swear it."

"Good," Jon all but barked before turning back to his two wards. "Now to answer your question Robert….yes. It would seem that both of your time here is at an end. You will return to Storm's End and begin learning from Ser Cortnay on its workings. There is a change in the wind….something is coming and we need to be ready for it."

So he wasn't he only one that sensed it….that was interesting.

Robert had just opened his mouth to respond in what Ned hoped was a calm and rational manner for once in his life when they were interrupted.

There was the sound of footsteps coming down the corridor outside the High Hall and Maester Coleman appeared on the threshold a moment later looking oddly serious for a small man who had too much neck and too little hair.

"I beg your pardon for interrupting my lord," he said. "But a letter has just arrived for Lord Eddard."

Immediately Ned was sitting up straight and looking at the sharp little man with intense burning grey eyes.

"From whom Coleman?" Jon barked.

"From Lord Rickard Stark in Winterfell," Coleman replied. "And it is marked as urgent."

Ned was out of his seat in a trice and striding towards the smaller man who held the two pieces out resolutely.

"Thank you Maester Coleman," he muttered only having eyes for the sealed document before him.

The man bowed shortly and hurried out of the room but Ned barely noticed.

The letter he tore open was short and to the point. It appeared as if it had been written hastily in his father's thick scrawling hand. The brush strokes were almost erratic making Ned worry that his father had not been in full control of his thoughts when he had written it.

 _Eddard._

 _I bid you return to Winterfell with all despatch. I write this in haste as I leave for the Wall within the hour to meet with the Lord Commander. You will recall that I bade your brother travel north several weeks ago to meet with the Watch regarding dealing with the threat of the wildlings. I have recently received a letter from the Lord Commander stating that he has gone missing beyond the Wall in some harebrained attempt at communicating with the Free Folk themselves. He has not been seen in nearly a week as it took such a time for the raven to reach me. I am riding for the Wall immediately to begin the search. By the time you arrive in Winterfell, I will have returned from the north and if the old gods are good I will have your wayward brother in tow. If you are near a godswood before you leave Ned, say a prayer. Winter is coming._

 _Lord Rickard Stark_

 _Lord of Winterfell  
Warden of the North_

Ned's hands were clenched tight upon the letter as he finished reading, his mind racing with a million thoughts.

Brandon had gone missing….his father was going to the Wall to search for him and he was being summoned back to Winterfell to serve as the Stark there before something dreadful happened.

But something dreadful had already happened.

 _Brandon you bloody fool! What would possess you to do something so incredibly stupid and asinine!?_

Upon realizing that he was being watched, Ned took a moment to calm himself before turning back around to face a worried Jon and Elbert Arryn and an intense looking Robert.

He took a deep breath. "I am being summoned back to Winterfell immediately. My brother Brandon has gone missing beyond the Wall and my father is riding north to find a search party and bring him back."

Robert was on his feet immediately. "Well then I am going with you."

"No, you are not!" Jon snapped surprisingly them all. "You are going to ride for the Storm Lands with all haste and take over the role that was always yours. You are a Lord

Robert and you cannot afford to act as though you are a younger son!"

"Ned needs me!" the young man barked back. "Ser Cortnay has done an adequate job managing Storm's End in my stead. Why can't he do so for a while longer?"

The chair scraped back at the Warden of the East got to his feet and there was a look of thunder on Jon's face that Ned had never seen before. "Because Ser Cortnay is not a Baratheon!"

The roar of the old falcon seemed to echo through the High Hall and even Ned was stunned at the force in Jon's tone. The old man had never raised his voice with them in all the years they had stayed with him and the fact that he was doing so now meant the situation was far more serious than either of them realized.

Elbert's jaw had dropped as he looked at his even keeled uncle who was now in a towering rage.

"Ser Cortnay does not have the responsibility of a Lord Paramount!" Jon continued. "Your father took his duty seriously why can't you?"

"I am not my father!" Robert snapped back.

"No, you are not!" Jon thundered. "But you better damn well begin acting like it because he would be utterly appalled to see the man you have turned into now. Whoring about, drinking and fighting like a baseborn bastard. You have already fathered one child here during your stay, how many more do you intend to sire when you return to the Storm Lands!"

"Do not talk about my father!" Robert shouted.

"Someone needs to!" Jon roared back. "I did not house you beneath my roof and train you all these years to watch you throw your inheritance away so you could do whatever you wanted. Being a lord is about serving the people not having them serve you! You _will_ return to Storm's End and you will leave within the next day. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?"

A flabbergasted silence descended over the High Hall for the second time that morning as Ned, Robert and Elbert all gaped at Jon Arryn as if they had never seen him before.

Robert's jaw was working but he didn't seem to be capable of answering so great was his shock.

Just then there was the sound of a throat clearing behind them and all turned around to see Maester Coleman once more standing on the threshold of the High Hall.

"What?" Jon snapped.

"Begging your pardon my lord," Coleman began, eyes darting right and left as if assessing the situation he had just walked into. "But another raven has arrived for Lord Eddard. This is also addressed from Lord Rickard but it appears as if the raven that was carrying it was injured on its way south and thus the one carrying the first letter arrived before it."

Ned shoved the letter into the breast pocket of his doublet and stepped forward to claim the letter from the small maester with a nod.

As he tore it open, Jon Arryn slumped back into his chair appearing as if he had used up all the energy he had on his rant.

But again Ned barely noticed the movement of the others in the room as his eyes had locked onto the much less erratic writing of his father. It was obvious this had been written before he had received the news of Brandon's disappearance and so was much calmer when it had been penned.

But the information he had to share in this document was no less shocking.

 _Dear Eddard_

 _I hope this letter finds you well. Your brothers and sister are also well and wish you the best, hoping dearly to see you again soon. Upon the conclusion of your time in the Eyrie I bid you return to Winterfell as quick as you can as there are plans for your future that need discussing. I have selected a hold for you my son and I would see you settled there as soon as possible.  
_

 _On the topic of being settled, another matter has come to my attention that I have been considering these last few months, namely the matter of your marriage.  
_

 _Your brother's future is already secure in the form of Lady Catelyn Tully and your sister's is still being discussed. But as to the matter of your future little has been said.  
_

 _A letter has recently arrived for me that rectifies this in a rather surprising manner. Not long ago, I received a raven from King Rhaegar Targaryen discussing the matter of his own sister's marriage and how he has ambitions to join our houses much closer than before.  
_

 _And as such he is desirous of seeing a match made between you and his sister Princess Laena Targaryen.  
_

 _Now I realize that this may come as a bit of a shock but from what your brother has told me of the time you spent in the capital, you already know the princess and have spoken with her before. The king seems convinced that this will be a most advantageous match and I am inclined to agree with him.  
_

 _It is not often that such opportunities as marriage to a princess come along and I would have us take advantage of this union right away.  
_

 _I have written to the king agreeing to this marriage proposal, however I have included a clause which proposes that Princess Laena come to stay in Winterfell for a time before your union so she may become better accustomed to the north and its people.  
_

 _As you know it is somewhat rare for Starks to wed outside of our own territory however it is not unheard of. We are a suspicious and honorable people by nature and I would have Princess Laena well-adjusted to this land and its people before a wedding occurs which ensures she will be here for a lifetime.  
_

 _Seeing as how she is the only Targaryen princess and the twin of the king no less I wish to treat her with the utmost respect and hospitality during her stay in the north and I expect you to do the same.  
_

 _I do not quite understand the game that King Rhaegar is playing in offering his only sister to us, but I will not dispute it and I expect you and your siblings to behave honorably and as the Starks I know you to be.  
_

 _Your betrothal to the princess is being finalized as we speak and I suggest that you spend these last few months in the Eyrie acclimatizing yourself to the idea._

 _Be well my son.  
Lord Rickard Stark  
Lord of Winterfell  
Warden of the North_

Ned slowly put down the letter and blew out a long deep breath that he hadn't even realized he was holding.

Out of all the things he had been expecting to hear from his father, the knowledge of his marriage certainly wasn't one of them.

Ned knew he would marry eventually but had expected that as a second son he would wed the daughter of one of his father's bannermen. He also hadn't expected it to be this soon as he was barely eight and ten years of age.

He had known Brandon's marriage would be important as would Lyanna's as she was the north's only daughter but he hadn't expected his father to put as much effort into his marriage as this letter seemed to posit.

And now he was being told that not only would he marry sooner rather than later but that the woman being given to him was the twin sister of the king and a princess to boot.

A woman such as that would never have been given to a second son such as him but Ned had a feeling that King Rhaegar valued his sister's happiness above almost anything else and if he felt that Ned was the thing to make his twin happy…then he would move heaven and earth to ensure that she received that happiness.

If anything it was slightly overwhelming to know that he was the man who had the ability to make the princess happy and he wondered what he had done in order to merit that.

His shock was so great regarding this turn of events that he didn't even realize that a sense of relief was overtaking him.

Having spent a good amount of time with princess Laena over the past few months since he had met her, the idea of her being married off to some lord for political gain didn't sit well with him.

Ned had long accepted his own marriage and would do his duty to his family to marry well and serve his brother but the idea of the princess being wed to a man who would use her and abuse that sweet strong spirit she possessed made Ned feel ill.

And now it seemed all of his fears had been for naught.

He didn't even realize that he was smiling until Elbert broke into his thoughts with a question.

"What is it this time Ned?"

The quiet wolf blinked before remembering that he had an audience and slowly turned around the letter gripped in his hands.

Jon, Elbert and Robert were all watching him with different expressions on their faces, where the commonality between the three of them was a parallel of concern. Robert was on his feet with both of his hands gripping the back of his chair.

Elbert was looking at Ned wide eyed as if he were waiting for the other shoe of disaster to drop and Jon was looking at his ward with narrowed eyes like he would be able to guess what this new letter had said simply by looking at his face for long enough.

Ned glanced back down at the letter, recovering his somewhat expressionless face and then instead of saying anything, passed the letter over to Jon so he might see for himself.

Immediately Elbert craned over his uncle's shoulder to see the words and Robert began to pace, glaring between his friend and his mentor the whole while.

It seemed Jon read faster than Ned did for in a matter of moments the aging Lord of the Eyrie looked up at his ward with an expression of unadulterated astonishment on his face.

"You are betrothed Ned."

He said it as a plain statement and Ned raised an eyebrow at him. "So it would seem."

"And to Princess Laena Targaryen of all people?!" Elbert gasped causing Robert's head to whip around to Ned so fast that the other young man winced in sympathy.

"What the bloody hell?!" the Lord of Storm's End managed to spit out. "How in the name of the gods did you swing that Ned?"

Jon glared at his ward. "It would seem the Prince Rhaegar proposed this marriage as a way of ensuring his sister's happiness."

"Her happiness?" Elbert asked. He turned to Ned. "And just how do you know her enough that you can ensure her happiness Ned?"

It was a loaded question and one the quiet wolf wasn't certain he wanted to answer. "I met princess Laena during the wedding of her brother to Princess Elia Martell. We exchanged words more than once during that time."

Jon's eyes narrowed for a moment before he turned to Robert and his nephew. "Will the two of you give us a moment? I wish to speak to Eddard alone."

While Robert looked like he was about to protest, Elbert simply nodded and clamped a hand down on his shoulder before leading the Lord of Storm's End from the room as if he were a child in need of a scolding.

Jon waited until their footsteps had faded away before he turned back to his ward and breathed a deep sigh, dropping the letter onto the table.

"Is there anything you wish to tell me Ned?"

"No," the young man said without hesitation. "I have told you all of it already."

"You have told me of your part in saving Prince Baelor from drowning," Jon said, "but you have said precious little after that. How well do you truly know princess Laena?"

"Lord Arryn if you are going to presume that I took advantage of – "

Jon held up a hand. "I would _never_ presume such a thing of you Ned. You are your father's son and Lord Rickard Stark is the most honorable man in the Seven Kingdoms. I merely wish to understand. I was given the impression that nothing truly came of your saving the Princess's brother."

Ned folded his hands behind his back. "Our conversations became more frequent after that but beyond polite discourse there was little. Princess Laena claimed that her brother had taken a liking to me since the incident and he often accompanied us when we did spend time together."

He wouldn't breathe a word of Laena's magic to anyone as that was no one's place to share but hers and he wouldn't betray the trust she had in him by doing so.

"Do you love her?" Jon asked and the blunt question startled even Ned.

He didn't answer for a long time as he wasn't quite sure how to. Ned was someone who was very cautious with his feelings and never gave away too much. He was a Stark and so saw everything in the plainest possible terms. His world was black and white but all feelings he had experienced since Princess Laena had come into his life were grey.

They were confusing and ambiguous and opaque, not allowing him to view them clearly or even to analyze what they were.

He didn't want to delve too deep into them because he wasn't sure he would like what he would find.

He admired Laena certainly, he cared about what happened to her and as the second eldest, they both had younger siblings to look after and keep an eye on. They had a great deal in common but where she was bold, he was cautious and where she was fiery he was cool.

Ice and Fire…..how strange.

Ned faintly remembered his history teachings under Maester Walys about the pact of Ice and Fire in which old Cregan Stark and a cousin of the Targaryens had forged an agreement that a Targaryen Princess would be given to a Stark.

But the pact had never been fulfilled.

Until now it seemed.

By the old gods that was a strange coincidence.

"I don't know," Ned replied in a quiet voice. "But I would like to find out."

There was another long moment of silence in which Jon reached down and folded the letter before giving it back to his ward. "Very well then."

Ω

"Really!?" Baelor shouted, all but bouncing out of bed to stand in front of his sister who was sitting on the edge of it with a smile on her face. "You're really going to marry Ned?"

Laena bit down on the edge of her lip trying her best to keep the grin on her face from reaching from one ear to the other.

She felt as if she hadn't stopped smiling in days since the letter from Lord Rickard had come agreeing to the terms of the betrothal agreement.

Her brother had called her to his chambers immediately upon receiving the raven and had read it out to her all at once so they might discuss if there were any concerns with what the Warden of the North had proposed.

Something that had pleasantly surprised Laena was Lord Rickard's desire to have her spend some time in the north before she married Ned so she would be more acclimatized to their way of life and the men of the north would have time to accept her.

This agreement that had been forged between the north and the south was a strange one and she had no doubt that her brother was going to face many questions from his nobles about why the only dragon princess was being given to a second son.

She also had a feeling that the bannermen of Lord Stark were going to be wary of a southerner being wed to the son of their vassal and perhaps even be somewhat distrustful as well.

Strangely it was their mother who had referenced the pact of Ice and Fire and how this agreement could be used as a fulfillment for that promise in case it ruffled the feathers of lords like Tywin Lannister.

Knowing that was a relief and the knowledge that she would be fulfilling an agreement that was three centuries old was somewhat astonishing to Laena.

No doubt Ned would know by now what was intended for him and she hoped he would respond to it well.

When she had expressed her concerns to Elia, all the Dornish princess had done was huff. _"If the way he looked at you during the wedding festivities was any indication of his feelings Laena then I would say that you have absolutely nothing to worry about!"_

Merlin but she hoped her sister in law was right.

And now with the agreement letter to Lord Stark's terms winging its way north again, Laena had set about packing immediately for her journey.

There were times when she was very thankful to have magic as it meant warming charms could be cast on all of her clothes so she did not have to pack as many heavy garments.

The north was a freezing cold place but Laena knew that it was to be her new home and so she would adjust as she had always done.

 _There will probably be many more strange and wonderful creatures in the north than there are in the south. Creatures that I've never seen or heard of before._

She was looking forward to exploring them all with Ned and with his family.

Laena remembered that he still had a brother and a sister in Winterfell and she would no doubt meet them when she arrived there, something she was both nervous and excited about.

From what Ned had told her, Lyanna was a wild wolf who hated the idea of being tied down to the man she was being considered for marriage to, one Robert Baratheon.

Though Laena wasn't a judgemental person by nature she hadn't liked much of what she had seen and wondered to herself whether or not a better match for Lyanna could be made.

She had a few ideas circling in her head right now.

But those could be thought of later.

Right now she was focusing on her youngest brother who looked like he was going to burst with excitement.

"I am," she replied. "And the best part is, his father would like me to come north to Winterfell to spend some time there with him and his family before we marry so I can know what the north is like."

"You get to go to Winterfell?" Baelor asked, violet eyes so wide Laena was certain that they had turned into large shiny purple marbles.

"I do," Laena replied with a smile.

"Well then I need to pack," Baelor replied as he hurried over to his wardrobe and doing his utmost to wrench the heavy doors open.

Laena frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well I'll need to pack clothes for when we leave," Baelor said looking at her as if she had asked the most absurd question. "I can't wear these clothes the whole time I'm there. I'll get cold."

It suddenly dawned on the princess what her brother was talking about.

She winced, knowing she would need to handle this carefully.

"Baelor," she began carefully. "I'm not sure you can come with me."

Her little brother whirled to face her, his eyes going wide and jaw going slack at what she was certain he felt was the gravest injustice he had ever experienced in his four year old life. "What do you mean? Why not? Of course I'm going with you!"

"But mother might not want you to be away from her for so long," Laena tried. "She might miss you."

Baelor screwed up his little face for a moment. "Well then can't you just use magic to send me back if she does and then come get me when she isn't sad anymore?"

Laena wanted to curse under her breath. She was beginning to regret telling her little brother how apparition worked.

Baelor continued as if he didn't notice the inner turmoil his sister was experiencing at all. "And besides, Ned invited me so I have to go."

Laena frowned. "What do you mean he invited you?"

Baelor looked astonished as if he couldn't believe that his sister didn't remember this particular conversation.

"Don't you remember what we talked about before he left? Ned told me that once I was able to ride my own horse that I could come and visit him in Winterfell. Well I've been practicing and now I can ride my own horse. So I should get to go!"

Laena winced, he had her there.

Baelor, sensing she was weakening continued. "And do you remember that letter that you helped me write to Ned?"

"Yes," Laena said slowly.

"Well he wrote back and he used small words so I could read it," Baelor said proudly. "And he told me that whenever I was riding my own pony that I could come and visit him in Winterfell whenever I wanted. So I learned how, I'm ready and I want to go!"

Laena was torn between laughing and cursing. She wondered what sort of magic Ned had with children that made them want to be around him all the time.

Baelor had taken such a shine to him that she was afraid if she brought him north with her than he would never want to go home.

She bit the edge of her lip considering something. Would it really be so bad if she brought her little brother with her though?

She was liable to become somewhat homesick for her family and even though she could apparate and visit them whenever she wanted, it wouldn't be the same as having someone to experience Winterfell with.

And who better to share the experience with than her precocious vibrant little brother who was fascinated by everything the world had to offer and who thought Ned hung the moon and stars?

Why shouldn't he come along?

She would be able to take care of him better on the journey than any of her other siblings and despite being somewhat rambunctious, he was an obedient little boy. He would listen to her as she had helped her mother with him all the time.

The more she thought about all the fun she and Baelor would have in Winterfell playing in the snow and spending time with Ned and his siblings the more she liked the idea.

Despite herself, Laena began to smile.

"So can I come?" Baelor asked all but bouncing around. He looked like he was going to crawl out of his skin if he had to wait any longer for an answer.

Laena made a big show of thinking for his benefit and then leaned forward, beckoning him closer like she was about to impart some enormous secret.

"I will tell you what," she said in a low voice. "If you can convince mother to let you go, then you can come. And if I were you, I would use the argument that Ned invited you personally because if you have an invitation, she can't refuse without it sounding rude. And we wouldn't want to be rude now would we?"

"No," Baelor whispered back conspiratorially. "No we wouldn't."

"Good," Laena said with a smile. "Then we have a plan."

Ω

 **So I know you guys are dying for more Laena and Ned moments and I promise I will include more of them in this next chapter coming. But details needed to be finalized first before that happened. And yes Baelor will be going north with Laena, so there will be more cute little brother moments. Also, I have decided that Lyanna will not be marrying Robert and I have someone else in mind for her, someone she might actually like wink wink. Anyway, that's all for now. I hope you like the chapter don't forget to review and happy reading everyone!**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

 _One Week Later….._

"Are you certain of this?" Rhaella asked.

The two of them were standing in Laena's chambers placing certain garments in the rather large trunk at the end of Laena's bed. Most of them were warm long sleeved dresses. With thick cloaks as well as gloves and tall boots, Laena was certain her mother thought she would be going to the utter edge of civilization rather than the north.

But for many southerners who viewed the north as a savage and wild place, it might as well have been.

The sunshine was coming in from the balcony though it was dying somewhat because it was late afternoon. The warmth could still be felt as well though and along with the distant sound of the bay beyond, there was a natural ambiance of tranquility.

The curtains waved gently in the breeze and down below the faint scent of flowers and exotic fruits could be smelt. The white tiled floors were warm from the heat of the sun and the princess was barefoot as she bustled about the room packing things into the trunk.

Laena suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. "Mother we've talked about this. I know you're worried but I trust Lord Eddard and I trust his father. Nothing is going to happen. Ser Barristan will be leading the party of guards you are sending north with us and when it comes down to a line of defense, my gifts are better than any sword. Why are you so concerned?"

Rhaella raised an eyebrow at her only daughter. "When you become a mother sweetling then you will understand everything there is to know about worry. My only daughter and my youngest son are riding north where you at least will remain for the rest of your life. I know you will travel back and forth to see me and your brothers by use of your magic but it won't be the same as having you under this roof. I also worry for Baelor."

Laena frowned. "Why?"

"I'm not worried for his safety," Rhaella explained. "I know he is going to be very well looked after by you and Ser Barristan. I am worried that when all of this is said and done and the wedding is over, he might not want to come home."

Laena's frown deepened. "Why wouldn't he want to come home? His mother and his five other brothers are here."

Rhaella sighed. "But _you_ won't be. You are his only and thus his favorite sister Laena and out of all of his siblings, he likes you and Rhaegar the best because you don't treat him like a child. It is singularly ironic since you two are the eldest and there are so many years between the two of you. You have also told me how fond Baelor is of Lord Eddard since the three of you spent time together in the capital and it seems Lord Eddard also views your brother with a certain amount of affection. Add to that the fact that he loves adventure and this will be the biggest one he has ever had in his young life and I don't think its hard to understand why he would never want to leave Winterfell. I will forever be grateful to Lord Eddard for his part in saving your brother but it seems to have triggered an unlikely friendship."

"Does that bother you?" Laena asked in surprise.

"Not at all," Rhaella replied. "Rather I fear it will cement his desire to stay in the north for as long as possible."

"But I will bring him back as many times as you wish to see him," Laena said. "It's not as if it will take weeks to get back here. You can see Baelor as often as you like. I've given you the device to contact us remember?"

"Yes you have," Rhaella said with a sigh.

"Then there is nothing to be concerned about," Laena said calmly. "Baelor will come home mother. You are his mother and despite the fact that he is a child that is not something he is likely to forget. The north can't give him that."

Rhaella sighed again but said no more causing the princess to frown. Her mother had been acting strange all week since giving her consent to Baelor to go north with her. Of course Rhaegar had thought it a wonderful idea and Daeron, Aemon and Vhagar were all green with envy at their brother's good fortune. They had never travelled outside of the south in their eight year old lives and now their four year old brother was going to do just that.

Baelor couldn't resist rubbing it in a little bit and Laena was certain that his smirk would wrap the entire way around his head if he continued smiling.

"Besides, you're going to be far too busy to worry about me and Baelor," Laena continued and her mother gave her a faint smile. "Rhaegar has given you an important job to do and if I'm not mistaken its going to take up a lot of time."

Rhaella laughed shortly. "I just hope I am up to the task."

Of the main changes her brother had wrought since he was crowned, the changes to the small council were the most surprising. Laena had no doubt that her being married to a second son was overshadowed by the knowledge that the king had appointed his mother to his small council.

The position he had given her was one that he himself had invented but one that Laena felt was necessary. The queen mother was unsure of her qualifications for such a post but regardless she was going to occupy the position of Mistress of Education.

Rhaella would be responsible for the fates of the orphaned children throughout Westeros and their care as they grew to adulthood. It went beyond simply making sure they were fed and housed however, Rhaella had determined that she intended to erect places of learning for the children so illiteracy might no longer be a commonality among the peasantry.

It was a stunning new development and one not many nobles were happy about, specifically Tywin Lannister, but Rhaegar had decreed that only those of considerable merit could serve on his small council and whether or not that position was occupied by a man or a woman of a noble house didn't matter.

To embark on such a route was truly revolutionary and Laena was both astonished and very proud of her brother as was Elia.

Rhaegar was also currently in the process of opening up other positions on the council including creating the post of Master of War and was searching for someone to fill that role.

Laena had suggested offering the post to Ser Brynden Tully as his reputation as a warrior was formidable.

These changes were poignant moves towards equality and one that was causing several eyebrows to raise, heads to shake or brows to furrow as Rhaegar was playing a far different game to what the king before him had done.

Laena wondered if her brother's actions to incorporate more women into places of power was confusing to nobles like Tywin Lannister but after a moment of puzzling she decided that it didn't matter.

Rhaegar was bringing the realm into an age of equality. He had told his twin that he wanted to implement something like this and get more women on the small council since they had grown up seeing their father abuse their mother.

And the princess agreed.

But then she found she was agreeing with many things these days.

Two days before she and Baelor were to leave for the north, Laena was interrupted in her afternoon lounging with her good sister by a servant bearing a letter.

"For you your grace," the servant said bowing with a flourish and handing the letter to her. "The raven just arrived from the Vale."

Laena frowned at the servant but nodded in thanks. She instantly knew that this communique was from Ned.

He had no doubt been informed by now that they were to wed and that she would be coming north to spend some time with him and his family before the wedding took place.

She had wondered privately if the news had pleased him as it had pleased her. He was so serious that there were times when she had no idea what he was thinking. The only physical token she had of is potential affection for her was the crown of purple and white flowers he had given to her when he had declared her his queen of love and beauty.

Every so often in the last few months since the wedding had ended she had removed the ornament from her desk drawer and held it to her nose so she might breath in its sweetness.

For a moment she had contemplated taking it with her but then dismissed the notion as ridiculous.

Since that message, letters between her and Ned were few and far between. Ah well they would be seeing each other far more frequently after this.

"Is it from Lord Eddard Laena?" Elia asked placing her hands atop her stomach. She had done that often lately and there was a glow about her as her pregnancy progressed that became her very much.

Laena glanced down at the folded parchment and noted the Stark seal emblazoned on the front. "So it would seem."

Baelor had written to Ned a week ago shortly after her betrothal to him had been confirmed which Laena had helped him write and which expressed all manner of excitement about the wedding and informing Ned that he would be coming with Laena to see him soon.

Laena was too busy packing to include her own letter and had instead included a brief line in Baelor's letter wishing him well and informing him that she was just as eager as her brother to see Winterfell.

There had been no return letter but the blonde had been too busy to be disappointed.

At that point, Rhaegar had announced his sister's engagement to Lord Eddard Stark which had caused a lot of eyebrows to rise all over the kingdom in confusion and suspicion as well as bewilderment.

Tywin Lannister hadn't appeared happy at the news and Laena had suspected that he had had designs to make her Jaime's wife now that he had his heir back.

And while Laena wouldn't have been opposed to the idea of marrying Jaime, she was much happier who how her brother had worked her engagement instead.

Besides…she had several ideas about who might suite Jaime better. She had known him for a year and he had always valued adventure and great battles as well as the notion of being some sort of hero better than he had the politics of court to the consternation of his father. While he was unbelievably arrogant and horribly sarcastic at times, he was also incredibly loyal and once someone had worked their way into his heart, they were there for life.

She and Jaime had had many conversations in the year he had spent in the capital as her sword and she had discerned that there was a bit of a divide in his heart from when his mother had left this world and he was searching for someone to help fill a void that he had been missing.

He had never said if any of this was true, but Laena had had a deep suspicion all the same.

He would need a strong woman who was stern enough to handle his arrogance but also gentle enough to get past the sarcasm that he had used as a tool to guard his heart.

It made Laena even softer towards him. She had always seen Jaime in a sort of younger brother capacity even though he was only a year younger than she and she wanted to see him happy.

And Laena had only one woman in mind who could fill a role like that potentially. From what Ned had told her about his sister, she was a spit fire who valued family and adventure just like Jaime did.

If all went right, Lyanna Stark would be the perfect woman for Jaime.

She would need to talk to Ned and his father about this idea more once she reached Winterfell but already the blonde was beginning to like the notion of it. Jaime and Lyanna were so similar but at the same time so different that the princess was convinced they would be a perfect couple.

It seemed her engagement had put her in the mood for matchmaking.

But in the meantime, Laena quickly broke the seal on the letter and removed the parchment sheath it had been wrapped in before smoothing it down on the table and beginning to read.

 _Your grace, Princess Laena Targaryen_

 _As I write this, I am preparing to leave the Eyrie and the Vale to return to Winterfell. I do not wish for you to worry about my sudden departure as I am obeying the wishes of my father as my family is in a time of crisis.  
_

 _My brother Brandon has gone missing beyond the Wall where he had been sent to speak with the Lord Commander regarding the threat of the Wildlings. My father has gone to search for him and if the gods are willing they will both soon be safely behind Winterfell's walls.  
_

 _This message is not intended to alarm you with regards to the timing of my brother's disappearance, but I simply wish to keep you informed. I and my sibling will be awaiting your arrival in Winterfell with eager anticipation. I do not intend to make many stops along my journey as I must return with all haste to the north. Thus this will be the last communique that you will receive from me until I reach my home.  
_

 _I look forward to speaking with you again soon your grace and during this time I would humbly request that you keep the news of my brother's disappearance to yourself. I do not wish for any of our bannermen to think that Winterfell is vulnerable or weak now that both my father and brother are gone. I do not wish to keep secrets, you know that I value honesty above all other things and yet it cannot be helped in this situation.  
_

 _However if you feel the need to impart this news to the king as he is somewhat involved in the knowing of the mystical and ominous details that have plagued us in recent months than by all means do so. I feel my father would say that having the assistance of the crown in a matter such as this would be a great boon. I will defer to your greater judgement in this matter.  
_

 _I wish you a safe and expedient journey to Winterfell your grace as winter is coming and I would not wish for you to be caught in the heavy snows before your arrival. Do not take any chances on the road and do not stray from the straight paths.  
_

 _It gladdens my heart to know that Prince Baelor will be accompanying you. It has been a long time since Winterfell has welcomed the presence of a child into its walls and I know my siblings and our servants and I will be all the better for it. I am very pleased to know that he is riding his own pony and to guarantee that he does not become out of practice, I will ensure to have several ponies ready for his use when he arrives.  
_

 _As to the matter of our betrothal your grace, the notion does gladden my heart. I had long snice wondered who would be chosen for me and the knowledge that it is you is excellent news indeed.  
_

 _We will speak more on this upon your arrival in Winterfell your grace. I feel that there is more that needs to be said.  
_

 _Your faithful servant  
_

 _Eddard Stark._

Laena pursed her lips slightly as she finished the end of the letter. Ned's letter had been very efficient and very precise. He was short and straight to the point in everything he said.

There was never any flowery words with him and she could tell that he had written this letter in haste as there were smudge marks along some of the round letters.

She wasn't upset that his message had included very little about their engagement but under the circumstances, she thought it understandable.

There would be time for that when she saw him in a few weeks.

She was more alarmed by the news that Brandon Stark had gone missing and that her brother's dream of Ned being Warden of the North might not in fact be just a dream.

Surely he wasn't seeing the future…was he?

A cool breeze blew in off the ocean coming down from the northern half of the bay and Laena cast her eyes in that direction.

There were clouds out there, far off in the distance but she could just faintly make out their color and shape.

A storm was coming.

She shivered slightly and took a deep breath as an ominous feeling filled her.

"What is it Laena?" Elia asked, her eyes narrowed. "Is everything alright?"

"Quite," the princess said calmly folding the letter in two. "Lord Eddard simply wished to say he wishes us an expedient journey and that he is glad to know Baelor is accompanying me. He thinks the presence of a child will bring some more joy to the halls of Winterfell."

"Baelor is a wonderful child," Elia said somewhat dreamily. "I hope this child is like him.

Laena smiled at her, though her mind was in a completely different place. She had a terrible feeling that even with the added assistance of Lord Rickard joining the search, Brandon Stark would not be found.

She was tempted to tell her brother of the news of the Stark heir's disappearance. She wanted him to know that perhaps he would need to prepare for the eventuality that the vanishing of Brandon Stark had something to do with the strange things that had been happening lately.

Coupled with the words her father had written in blood in the balcony the night of his gruesome and terrifying death, Laena was certain her brother would need to know what had happened.

And seeing as how she was leaving soon she would need to inform him of this occurrence right away.

"Forgive me Elia," she said rising from her seat. "But I remembered there was something I needed to speak to my brother about before I leave. I will see you at dinner tonight."

"Of course," the young queen said with a smile.

Ah yes, the dinner that her brother had planned in honor of her betrothal to Lord Eddard was to be a private affair of only family on the night before she was to leave.

Laena had a feeling it was more of a way for her family to say goodbye to one another privately before the official departure.

Thankfully it wouldn't be one of great fanfare but Baelor was already insisting that he wanted to ride his own pony Starfyre out of the city.

He was relentless about it, but Laena had to hand it to him. He had been practicing since Ned had left the capital atop his own pony so he might learn how to ride and thus get to Winterfell and he had been increasing in leaps and bounds.

And she didn't have it in her heart to deny him.

However she was going to insist that they ride in the wheelhouse out of the city and once they were on the King's Road, he could ride his own pony as long as he wanted.

As soon as she was out of sight of the terrace in the gardens, Laena hurried the rest of the way to the keep and made her way towards the small council chambers.

No doubt council would soon be finished for the day and she needed to speak to Rhaegar immediately.

Despite the fact that it was a warm day and the sun was shining in through the open windows in the halls of the keep, Laena felt cold.

She knew her inner chill had nothing to do with the weather and all to do with the new of Brandon Stark's disappearance and with an effort she fought to shake it off.

 _What if Rhaegar was too late in sending that letter?_ She thought to herself. _If we had acted earlier….could we have perhaps prevented his disappearance?_  
 _You don't even know if he's dead,_ argued the voice of reason in her head. _Rhaegar's dream showed a glimpse of something from when the both of you were ten years older than you are now. Anything could have happened in that time to lead to Brandon's death that had nothing to do with the Wall. And you don't even know how long Brandon had been at the Wall before his disappearance. Is it not possible that he had been there before Rhaegar ever had his dream? Couldn't it be true he began having these dreams after Lord Brandon's disappearance?_

They were all annoyingly vague questions that she was both dying to know and dreading the answers to.

In a way, she felt somewhat guilty. Magic was a tool that could be used to help people…yet what if it had failed to save Brandon Stark?

 _If….If things go south and Lord Rickard fails to find Lord Brandon or he returns with…with his body then I need to tell Ned about my brother's dream. I don't want him to think that we could have done something to save his brother and didn't._

The princess shuddered and shook off her dark thoughts. She was being unnecessarily morbid. Lord Brandon would be found and returned to the family.

When she came to the throne room, she found to her relief that it was utterly empty. Though it was a warm, the bronze grates situated about the pillars had been lit with warm fires casting an air of almost oppressive heat about the whole chamber.

Her brother was not sitting on the throne but she had not expected him to be, though Laena did stop to take a look at it before she continued as she did every time she saw it.

That throne had robbed Aerys of his sanity and caused the downfall of many of the men in her family. She just hoped her brother wouldn't follow in that grim and tragic tradition.

A moment later Laena shook herself and continued walking to reach the back of the chamber where the small council chambers were situated.

As she did so, she could hear voices coming from within.

One was her brother which she recognized right away and the other was Lord Tywin who was speaking in his usual cool voice.

"May I ask why the need for all of this preparation your grace?" the old lion asked. "You've commanded for more land to be plowed and sewn in various parts of the crownlands, land that had previously been unoccupied and you have allotted land to be put aside for farmers from the Reach. What are you preparing for?"

"Our society has been unequal one for far too long my lord hand," her twin replied coolly. "I would give our people as much of an opportunity to succeed as possible. Many areas of the crownlands are unworked and unoccupied. In order to prevent land disputes, I wish to give the land to members of the hard working peasantry. The burden of producing food in the south should not be placed on the shoulders of the Reach alone."

"Are you preparing for something your grace?" Tywin asked again.

"At the risk of sounding like a Stark my lord Hand, winter is coming and after consulting with the maesters of Old Town, they are slightly worried about the potential length of it. I wish for the realm to be as equipped as possible for what may come."

"Very well your grace, I will see to it that these lands are settled."

"Thank you my lord Hand," the voice of the king said and then the sound of footsteps could be heard heading towards the door of the chamber.

The princess quickly cast a disillusionment charm on herself and waited with baited breath for Tywin Lannister to emerge.

It was just in time too for a second later, the Hand of the King strode from the chamber no more than three feet away from her, passing close enough that she could feel the breeze created by his forward motion.

His sharp green eyes looked about him for a moment and then frowned in speculation as if something was amiss. A moment later though he continued on his path past the throne and down onto the floor in front of it.

Laena waited until the tall door of the throne room had slammed shut before she released a breath and the spell and tapped on the door.

"Come!" called the king's sharp voice.

Laena entered the room a moment later. There was a long table set up in the center of the room and it was lined with windows that were open on either side. There were a few potted plants in the room and a few pillars scattered throughout. The table was lined with chairs on either side all of which had been pushed in, save the one on the end where her brother was sitting.

He looked up at the sound of her steps and his face lit up with a smile when he saw her. "Laena! I was expecting to see you until tonight! How are you?"

The princess carefully sat down next to him, holding his gaze. After a moment of silence in which the smile on his face died, she carefully brought out the letter she had tucked behind her back and held it out. "Unfortunately brother, I don't bring good news. You need to see this."

Rhaegar's handsome face deepened into a frown and his violet eyes narrowed at her. He looked back and forth between her and the letter for a few seconds before he reached out a hand and took it gingerly as if it were a snake. "What is it?"

She didn't answer and he glanced down at the return address before raising an eyebrow at her. "The Vale? It is from Lord Eddard then?"

"It is," Laena replied. "It contains information that you need to see before I leave for the north."

Rhaegar's eyes narrowed even further as he glanced down at the parchment. They were practically in slits as he read and she could see the tightening in his jaw.

When he got to a section of the letter….it may have been a trick of the light but Laena was certain that she saw the pallor of his face fade from its healthy marble tone to an almost ghostly white. She knew then that he had reached the passage about Brandon Stark's disappearance.

It seemed to take him a long time to get through the letter after that.

While he did so, Laena sat back in her chair, gazed out the window into the sunshine and allowed her mind to wander.

The journey north would take several weeks and because this was a mission of diplomacy and not expedience or stealth a week would no doubt be added on to visit some of the keeps of their lords.

She fervently hoped Baelor would be on his best behaviour when that happened and that he wouldn't let his eagerness to get to Winterfell and see Ned stifle the necessity of being a polite prince.

The shuffling of a piece of parchment drew her attention back to Rhaegar. The whiteness that she thought she had witnessed in his cheeks was gone.

The king set the letter down on the table and raised the glass of wine that was sitting next to it to his lips.

His hand was steady and Laena was somewhat impressed with his nerve and resolve. Those were the makings of a fine king.

"It seems it has begun then," he said finally and Laena shook her head.

"What has begun brother? Your dream didn't tell you anything about what the disappearance of Brandon Stark could mean."

"The time for innocence and naiveté has passed sister," Rhaegar said with a cold calm as he folded the letter and set it back on the table. "Things have been too strange and too telling and too coincidental in the last few months for me to overlook this any longer. We must operate as if Brandon Stark is dead. And thus because Eddard Stark has been recalled to the North, you will in all likelihood be the next lady of Winterfell."

Laena bristled. "I don't see it as naïve or foolish to hope that something terrible will not happen. And unless I receive word on my journey that Brandon Stark has been found dead, I will not operate as if I am going to usurp the position of some other woman. All I am to do is marry Eddard Stark and secure a position in the north during these troubling times. And that is enough for me. Is it enough for you brother?"

Rhaegar's eyes narrowed as he looked at her. He folded his hands in front of him and Laena could feel the air tangibly begin to freeze.

"Careful sister," he said in a voice as cold and as soft as snow. "It would be dangerous to turn a blind eye now. You know and I both know that something terrible is coming.

And we cannot allow sentiment to get in the way of dealing with it."

"Forgive me," the princess said just as coldly. "But I had thought that you wanted to be different than father?"

Violet fire flared in the king's eyes. "Are you saying I am anything like the monster that Aerys was?"

"You tell me," Laena said. "You are a far more compassionate man than he Rhaegar. But if you begin acting like you are some sort of pragmatic ruler, you will have the emotionlessness of Tywin Lannister and the narrowed idealism of father. Is that who you truly wish to be? Brandon Stark is _not_ dead. Not as far as we know and until we know for certain, I refuse to take a position that is not mine."

She could feel her blood beginning to boil and there was a tingling in her hands that indicated that the fire was still there. She knew she needed to calm down before it came boiling out and engulfed her hands in flames. Now was not the time for an argument.

She needed to take care of the last minute arrangements for her trip and she needed to see to Baelor.

Right now, fighting with her brother couldn't and shouldn't be a priority.

So instead of saying anything else, Laena simply scraped her chair back and got to her feet. "I will not make plans regarding any part of this realm unless the man to whom they belong is cold in his grave. The minute we start jumping ahead of others is the minute problems begin to arise."

And then she swept out of the room.

Ω

The dinner that was had that night as a farewell for Laena and Baelor was a quiet affair but the intimacy of it all pleased the princess.

A toast was raised in her honor and for the success of her impending marriage. Another was raised for the good health of her and Baelor and safety for their journey.

Rhaella looked like she was going to cry at least three times that night and finally retired early claiming she had a headache.

Laena for her part was both happy and sad when it was over. It would be the last time in a while she would see her family altogether like this and she didn't want to leave her twin on a sour note.

Rhaegar had been quiet all evening but Laena knew the only other person to notice was Elia, whose brow was pinched in concentration all night. As a result of her advancing pregnancy, Laena found even the simplest things caused her anxiety and so most matters regarding court were kept from her at this time.

Laena had no intention of telling her good sister about the disappearance of Brandon Stark and the situation going on in the north whatsoever until there was some sort of resolution. Elia had always been a sensitive character which made Laena slightly worried about her ability to be a stoic and firm queen.

Aside from that however, this situation needed to be handled carefully and with sensitivity.

And she and Baelor were heading north to do just that. Well she would, her little brother was going to provide some sort of break from the tension that she had had a feeling was hanging low over Winterfell.

All in all, her thoughts placed her on autopilot as she ate. In retrospect as she was gathering a few last minute things the following morning, Laena couldn't even remember what her brothers had asked her and what she had said.

All she remembered was saying goodnight to her family and heading to her chambers to get some well-deserved sleep before her very long journey.

As she was placing a few books into the over the shoulder bag that she intended to carry with her, there was a knock on the door of her chamber.

The sunlight was shining gloriously through the window but at the sound of that knock it was if a bell had been rung in her mind and she was placed on high alert.

"Come!" she called out, turning towards it.

The door opened to reveal her brother standing there in all his kingly finery. He was dressed in black with silver trimming his collar and sleeves and the crown of their father sitting upon his head. Somehow her brother filled it out better though.

On her father, the full crown had just thrown into sharp relief how skeletal he had become over the years. On Rhaegar he appeared how a king was supposed to look, tall, strong, commanding and in control.

The twins stared at each other for a long time and uncertainty was thick on the air. They're last conversation hadn't ended in the most congenial way leaving both of them unsure of how to speak going forward.

Finally, just as Laena thought she would make the first move, the young king spoke.

"You were right."

Laena blinked. "About what?"

Rhaegar sighed and walked closer. "I think as a king I am anxious to not make any of the mistakes that father made and to anticipate every move that may happen in Westeros. Father nearly succeeded in tearing the realm apart and I wish for it to remain together especially after all that we have learned thus far. But in my haste to do that, I overlooked certain people in this realm. And that was a foolish thing to do. We do not know if Brandon Stark is dead and until we know for certain, we shouldn't make any political moves other than the ones that have already been played."

Laena felt the tension draining from her shoulders. "Thank you Rhaegar."

Her brother frowned. "For what?"

"For admitting that sometimes its not possible to have it all together and that people matter more than politics. Its something that father never understood."

"There's not much that father did understand Laena, especially towards the end of his life."

"That's very true," the princess said sitting down on the edge of her bed. "But the fact that you can admit it already says that you will be a much better king than he will."

Rhaegar smiled before sitting down next to her. "Well good. I don't think I could do much worse than him at least."

"No you couldn't."

The twins began to chuckle quietly amongst themselves for a long moment before Laena sobered again.

"I'm going to miss you," she said in a quiet voice.

"I'll miss you too," Rhaegar said in a low tight tone. "You and I have been inseparable since we were born and now you're going to move as far away as one can possibly get in this country. It does make me more than a little sad. I'm just thankful we have your magic so I can see you more often than I would without it."

"I'll try to come back as often as I can," Laena promised. "And I'll be sure to bring Baelor with me. Mother's going to miss him more than she lets on."

"Yes, she is," Rhaegar admitted. "She's been doing an admirable job holding her emotions together these last few weeks but I have a feeling that after you leave she's going to be sad for a long while."

"I know."

They lapsed into silence for a long moment before Laena glanced down at her brother's lap and noted the odd object sitting atop it. "What's that?"

Rhaegar glanced at it and gave her a small smile. "My purpose in coming here this morning was twofold. I wanted to apologize….and I wanted to give you something."

Now she was a little more than intrigued. "What is it?"

Rhaegar raised the oblong object that was covered in red silk from his lap and handed it to her.

Laena could tell right away that it was a weapon of some sort but it wasn't until she pulled away the cloth and got a look at it that she understood what she was seeing and feeling.

It was a sword.

But it was unlike any sort of sword she had ever seen.

It was the length of one of her arms but wasn't heavy enough for her to have difficulty lifting it.

The hilt of it was made of hammered silver, with the handle bearing a sort of bevelled pattern as if it had been hammered softly during the welding process. The crossguard was simple and had no other adornments and there was no decoration on the pommel.

But it was the blade itself that caught her eye right away making her think this was no ordinary tool.

It was a stark white and as solid and as cold as any stone that Laena had ever seen or felt in her hands. It bore no decoration but its tip was curved slightly as if it bore a stylized resemblance to a reaper's scythe.

It was razor sharp but the blade felt solid and as weighty as any metal that she had felt, but it was no metal that she knew.  
"Is it made of stone?" she asked in an awed voice.

"No," Rhaegar shook his head. "It's my belief, at least from Father's research that this blade was once a tooth of one of the Targaryen dragons."

Laena just stared at him as if he had spoken gibberish. "What?"

"After father died, I was going through some of his effects and I happened to come across a large stone key in the bottom of one of the trunks that I didn't recognize. It took me almost two weeks to find the door that would fit the key and when I did, it was in the bowels of the palace far away from the torture chambers and below the Black Cells.

The room had no windows, but it did have tall book shelves and was littered with old trunks that had rusted locks and rotting pages inside.

"After doing some searching, I discovered that the room held artifacts that Aegon, Rhaenys and Visenya brought with them from Dragonstone when they conquered Westeros. This sword was among them. There wasn't much information on it but I have reason to believe that the hilt is hammered Valyrian steel and the tooth was affixed atop it. I don't know from which dragon it came, but it must have been one of the larger ones."

"Why are you giving this to me?" Laena asked. "You're the king. Shouldn't this be something that you carry?"

"No," Rhaegar replied. "I have a funny feeling that you're going to need it more than I do."

His words sent chills down Laena's spine and she swallowed hard. "You're not making this easier brother."

Rhaegar sighed and took one of her hands in his so she could see he was trying to convey with all emotion that he was serious.

His next words caused the hair on the back of her arms to stand on end as they were the last ones she would hear from him for a while.

"I think we've gone past the point of easy Laena. We're in unknown territory now. And from here on out…there may be monsters."

Ω

 _Four weeks later…._

"It smells here," Baelor complained.

Laena smirked as she brought the edges of the covers up to his chin and tucked him in for the night. "It's just a different smell Baelor. You're used to the capital which has its own sort of smell. The Riverlands are different. We won't be here for long. It's just a few days."

"Good," her little brother said. "Because I don't think I like it here."

Laena glanced towards the door, glad she had put silencing charms up around their chambers. "Take care that you don't say that out loud. It would offend Lord Hoster. He has been very gracious to allow us to stay here so we can rest for a while."

"I know," Baelor grumbled. "But I don't like it. They're all so….creepy."

Laena bit her lip to keep from bursting out laughing. "And what exactly about them is creepy?"

"It's their eyes," Baelor defended. "I don't know. But they just stare at us. It's creepy."

Laena sighed, making a mental note to let her brother and mother know how perceptive her younger brother had become.

But she did have to admit that the Tully's were a bit strange. Lord Hoster was clearly as power mad as Tywin Lannister was.

And it had only taken one evening with them for Laena to realize that they knew absolutely nothing about the disappearance of Brandon Stark.

She hoped they wouldn't until the matter was resolved one way or another. She wouldn't put it past the old trout to pounce on Ned should it be learned that Brandon Stark was dead.

Of course Rhaegar would step in immediately but the last thing that needed to happen right now was tension between the north, the Riverlands and the Crown.

Of course if her brother was feeling this way about the Tullys, there was no telling how he might have felt about staying with another noble family, the Freys for instance.

"You have nothing to worry about Baelor. "Ser Oswell is posted right outside your door and I'm right down the hall."

"It's not that," Baelor said. "I just want to go north."

"I know," Laena said. "But our journey's half done and we'll be in Winterfell soon enough. I'm sure Ned is already waiting for us."

"Do you think so?" Baelor asked perking up immediately.

"I know so," Laena replied. "Now close your eyes and go to sleep, we won't be here for much longer."

Once she had left the guest chamber of her brother, Laena let out a sigh before retiring to her own room. She nodded to Ser Barristan who was standing outside of it before entering it and shutting the door behind her.

The room itself was done in the Tully colors with a deep blue carpet and red draperies as well as a red bed spread. There was a tall stone fireplace to the left of the room and the tall mahogany bed was backed against two tall windows that looked down on the courtyard of Riverrun.

Personally she found the castle itself to be beautiful but those who inhabited it not so much. Lord Hoster was an ambitious and greedy man who hid his designs for both his daughters behind a mask of calm etiquette.

But if he fancied himself a sort of Tywin Lannister playmaker than Laena had news for him. Her brother had already made an investment in the Stark future and no matter how much Lord Hoster had hinted that evening that perhaps a more advantageous match could be made for her in the form of his son Edmure, the plans of the king would go through.

Lord Hoster had three children and so he needed a lady for his son and lords for his daughters. There were rumors that his eyes had turned eastward towards Elbert Arryn, the nephew and heir of Lord Jon Arryn of the Vale for his daughter Lysa.

Of course if the rumors about what she had done were true than Hoster would be hard pressed to find a decent match for her anywhere.

Laena had taken a good long took at Lysa during dinner in the Great Hall and she had noted the odd almost glazed look in the girl's eyes as if her mind was somewhere completely other than the Riverlands.

It had also been painfully obvious that Hoster favored his elder daughter Catelyn as he had mentioned her engagement to Brandon Stark at least three times throughout the course of the evening.

By the end of it, even Ser Barristan looked bored.

Laena was glad she had Baelor as an excuse because the boy was nodding off in his seat and she had immediately begged off and hustled him up the stairs to bed thanking Phil the whole while.

Thankfully they were only planning on staying for two days as Laena was anxious to get to Winterfell.

Lord Hoster had urged them to extend their visit but Laena had politely and firmly refused  
saying she had instructions from her brother the King to not delay too long in their journey. And because the King's word was not to be questioned, Hoster had kept his silence.

But now as Laena magically filled the tub in the corner with water and heated it before stepping into the hot water and sinking in up to her shoulders, she wondered to herself whether or not it would have been a good idea to simply keep going and find another noble house to spend the night in. It didn't have to be one of the greater houses after all.

They would be nearing the Neck soon and would no doubt have to send word to Lord Reed to accommodate them for a few nights.

Laena would feel a bit easier once they were out of the Riverlands. There was a curious magnetism about the place and she wondered if it had something to do with their proximity to the Isle of Faces.

Ever since her brother had suggested they go to visit it, she had been hard pressed to rid it from her mind completely.

It was perhaps the most deeply magical place in Westeros and something like that would resonate with who Laena was and where she had come from.

She had almost wanted to suggest that they stay a few more days so she could go and visit the place but then realized how foolish that would have sounded and held her silence.

No one casually visited the Isle of Faces.

Her ancestor Adam Velaryon had been the only one to do it and that had been over a century earlier. The face had been untouched by the outside world since.

Another time perhaps.

After staying in the bath for as long as she dared, Laena got to her feet and dried off before pulling down a nightgown around her head and climbing into the soft bed complete with its red coverlets.

For a moment she was tempted to think ahead to what would happen when they reached Winterfell but after a moment she pushed it aside. She had spent a lot of time on the road wondering how Ned would be in his position as acting Lord of Winterfell as it was a task he had never been trained for.

No doubt it would be a heavy burden, one she wished would be easier for him, but if his brother was not found….then perhaps it would be something he would need to become used to.

To her consternation she had a funny feeling that Ned would do a better job in the role of Warden of the North than his brother. It was a thought she pushed aside as immediately as it occurred, but the ungenerous nature of it made her uneasy.

After a few moments she settled down to sleep, determined to get some manner of rest before getting on the road again.

In the morning she would make an effort to go for a walk about Riverrun and learn more about it. If it would keep their subject happy, well then it would be a necessary thing.

With that she closed her eyes.

Ω

Laena came awake with a start.

She stared around with wide eyes into the darkness of the room, completely uncertain as to why she was awake but knowing that it wasn't because of a nightmare or because of a loud sound.

But something had prompted her awake.

The blonde looked carefully about the room checking every shadow for a solid form so she might know if someone had found their way in.

But to her relief and confusion there was no one there.

So why was she awake?

Biting the edge of her lip, the princess contemplated lying back down but the urge to get up became stronger and stronger the more she sat there.

Finally unable to ignore it any longer, the Targaryen pushed the blanket back and got to her feet, summoning her robe from its hook across the room by the fire.

But the tug in her gut didn't go away and as she leaned over to stoke the fire which had died down to embers, a strange sensation told her to go to the door.

She considered resisting it but then decided that wouldn't be the best idea and walked over to the door before opening.

Laena was immediately presented with the knight who was standing guard. "Ser Barristan? Is anything amiss in the castle?"

When the knight didn't say anything, Laena frowned deeply and repeated her question. Again, there was nothing.

 _What on earth is going on?_ Laena wondered. _Have the Nargles addled the man's brains?_

He hadn't answered her, he had made no indicated that he had heard her and he wasn't even looking at her.

Just then the hair on the back of Laena's arms began to stand on end. Was she dreaming? Is that why the knight didn't seem to be able to hear her?

Just then there was another sound and Laena looked up in shock to see a small form emerging from the door down the hallway where Ser Oswell was standing.

Laena instantly recognized the figure of her little brother and dashed forward, immediately forgetting about Ser Barristan.

The little boy was going down the hall away from her and he was walking in a way that Laena had never seen him do before.

Often times he would be sort of lope along as if he wished to skip but remembered he was a prince and that it wasn't polite.

Now however he was walking with purposeful strides as if he were a man going to war and about to make some sort of speech.

Something was very wrong here.

"Baelor?" Laena called out as she hurried after him. "Baelor where are you going?"

He paused in his stride and then answered in a voice like Laena had never heard before. It sounded like a voice that was coming from deep within the earth and made her roil back a step in shock and fear.

 ** _"I am taking him to the godswood, there is something that the both of you need to see."_**

Her heart was pounding like that of a tourney horse in her chest but as quickly as she had come to a halt, Laena got her wits about her and sprang in front of her little brother intending to have answers.

The ones she got weren't what she was expecting.

Baelor looked roughly unchanged from when she had left him. His pale hair was tousled from sleep and he was still in his night clothes but he didn't even have shoes on his feet.

And his eyes.

His eyes were what caused Laena to nearly flatten herself against the wall in astonishment.

They were completely white.

It almost appeared as if he had gone blind but the way he was walking made it seem as if he could see perfectly.

The orbs were as white as the bark of a heart tree and just as striking.

"Who….Who are you?" she asked, knowing she wasn't talking to her brother at all anymore.

Baelor regarded her for a long moment before speaking once more in that terrible voice. **_"Someone you have long forgotten. But you will remember. Now come, we don't have much time."  
_**

He started to walk down the hall again leaving Laena behind. She stared after him for a moment, her mind curiously blank even though chills continued to pour across her arms and down her back like rain water.

"Where….Where are we going?" she asked.

 ** _"To the godswood,"_** the voice replied. **_"There are things you need to see."_**

And without being able to explain it, only that she felt a burning desire to go….Laena followed.

Ω

 **Don't forget to review!**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

With apprehension roiling in her stomach like broth in a boiling soup pot, Laena followed Baelor down the halls of Riverrun.

Her little brother….or whatever was guiding him walked at a slow but purposeful pace far different from the skipping lope that Baelor was known for. This continued to throw into sharp relief how serious this matter was and that the only way to get the little prince back would be to follow this stranger in her brother's body to the godswood.

Her body seemed to have gone on autopilot seeing this strange and out of the ordinary occurrence and while she wanted to scream for this being to cease its strange hold on her brother, she had a feeling that wouldn't happen. There was something about the grim intent in the being's voice which made Laena think that things wouldn't return to normal until this creature had said and done what it needed to say and do.

Somehow though Laena wasn't afraid. She knew deep down that whatever this magic was, it wouldn't hurt her or her brother. If it wanted to surely it would have done something by now and a being that had the ability to possess others would no doubt have power greater than her own.

They would both be fine….she hoped.

Another surprising factor of this midnight stroll was that they weren't alone in the hall. Every few minutes a guard wearing Tully colours or a servant would walk down the corridor in their direction. When it had first happened, Laena had stiffened wondering how on earth she was going to explain all of this.

But when the first person had passed them, not even glancing in their direction Laena had discovered what was happening.

"They can't see us can they?" She asked quietly.

 ** _"Nay,"_** came the terrible voice out of her brother again. ** _"Nor can they hear us. There will come a time when Westeros will see our faces and hear our voices again…but it is not now."_**

With that ominous and deeply alarming statement, Laena fell silent and asked no more questions. She didn't think the voice would answer her even if she had asked however. It seemed duty bound to go forward only, turning neither to the left nor to the right. His pace was steady but urgent at the same time and Laena found she needed to stride along beside him in order to keep up.

Even though Baelor had only been in the keep for a few days the form that had taken hold of him seemed to know it like the back of his hand for he did not waver upon reaching a fork in the hallways and immediately turned to the left.

This path led the pair to a particular tapestry in that hallway that Laena didn't remember seeing on her tour of the keep a few days ago. Unlike many of the other decorative pieces in the keep, this one simply bore a stitched image of a large completely circular pool that was ringed by stones. In the middle of the pool there was a stitched effigy of an ever living fire. There was no platform to give it structure or wood to make it burn and yet the flames licked the surface of the water and did not go out. The pool was located in the centre of a clearing and surrounding the clearing were enormous white heart trees. Their blood red leaves matched the crimson flames on the water perfectly and Laena felt a slight chill on her skin.

The size of it also held her in thrall. It covered a large portion of the wall almost from floor to ceiling and was at least ten feet wide. Surely such a thing could not have gone unnoticed. But then she had never been down this passage before.

Baelor didn't seem to be fazed by the picture however as within a moment of his elder sister having taken it all in, he swept aside the tapestry with more strength than he should have had to reveal an old wooden door that was about half the height of the tapestry. It was crossed with two iron bars that had odd markings engraved into them. It was attached to the wall on three massive bolts that may very well have been the size of Laena's fist. They appeared to have been bronze at one time but were now so rusted that they had become a dull brown and appeared as if they would screech horribly if opened.

But what surprised Laena the most was that there was no lock. There was only a door handle and when Baelor reached for it, Laena braced herself for a terrible screeching sound.

But to her utter astonishment when her little brother grabbed the handle and pulled the door free from the wall, it swung open without a sound. Completely unfazed by this, Baelor stepped through and began to descend into what looked liked a set of stairs.

It was smaller and narrower than the main stairs and seemed much colder as if the heat generated from the fires of the keep did not reach these walls.

There were no tapestries upon the walls and no torches to light their way. In fact when Laena passed through the arch leading to the stairwell, there was a sudden rush of cold air causing the hairs on the back of her arms to stand on end.

She quickly pulled the tapestry over the entrance but didn't shut the door all the way. Something told her that there was something deeply magical about this entrance and the last thing she wanted to do was be locked out.

As they scurried down it, Laena placed her hands upon the walls and grimaced when the damp cold of the stones penetrated her skin. She removed her hands immediately and rubbed them together, feeling the familiar sparks in her veins race to the outer layer of the dermis.

"This is an old passageway," she observed.

 ** _"Indeed,"_** the voice said again. ** _"It has not been used in an age, not since the days of House Fisher."_**

Laena nearly came to a screeching halt almost tripped on the hem of her long cloak. "House Fisher!? But that would mean that this passage has not been used since the time of the First Men!"

 ** _"Aye. It was sealed for over a millennium in preparation for a day that was to come. A day which is fast approaching. We may walk through it in accordance with your magic….and ours."_**

For a moment it was on the tip of Laena's tongue to ask what on earth magic had to do with it but then she thought better of it for magic had everything to do its what was happening on that night.

Instead she followed Baelor down the passage, keeping her eyes on him the whole while. Whenever he woke from his….possession…..or whatever it was she had a feeling he was going to be tired. After all he was what seemed to be an adult in a child's body.

They continued their descent into darkness until the passage appeared to level off allowing them to walk on flat ground again. But when their footsteps didn't ring against the stones Laena was forced to conclude they were no longer walking upon familiar floors.

"Is there something hidden down here?" She asked the small figure ahead of her.

 ** _"Aye,"_** said the voice of stone coming from her brother's body. ** _"It is something that was hidden long ago waiting for the hands of worthier men to find it again."_**

This was making less and less sense the farther they went along.

Laena had just opened her mouth to ask more questions when they turned a sudden corner and came into what looked to be a short hallway with one door at the very end. This chamber as well was not lit. The only way they had to see was by the lumos charm Laena had cast when they descended into the staircase. In the last ten years she had become accustomed to using the charm many times when torchlight was not availabl. After all there were no such things as magically lit candles in Westeros.

"Where are we now?" She asked.

 ** _"In a place long since forgotten,"_** said the voice that did not belong to her brother. ** _"The last descendants of House Fisher before the Andal Invasion sealed the door with magics unknown in this world today. It has been untouched ever since."_**

"Why? What were they trying to hide?"

In answer to this question the small form of Baelor marched down the hall as fast as his short legs would carry him until he reached the doorway at the other end. Then with practiced ease that the four year old certainly hadn't inherited he stepped to one side and reached below him at a stone in the wall that looked oddly out of place. To Laena's complete surprise he pulled the stone from the wall with no hesitation and inserted his hand in the crevice beyond. A moment later he had pulled his hand out and with it came a large rusted key with a rather ostentatious tail at the end if it curled into a peculiar pattern.

Laena needed to ask no questions in order to understand that this was the instrument that would unlock the door.

A part of her braced herself for what she would see beyond the door. Skeletons? A library perhaps? Ancient Magical creatures that had somehow remained untouched for thousands of years?

Absently she wished she had brought the dragon tooth sword her twin had given her before she left the capital.

But there was no more time for second thoughts as the moment the first of these mental regrets passed through her mind there came a frightful screeching noise and Baelor jerked on the door, yanking it open.

The first sensation that assaulted the princess was a damp musty smell that made her cough and prompted her to place her hand over her mouth and nose so as to filter further inhalation's.

The room beyond was dark and cold, extremely so to the point where the blonde was certain that if one were inside, they would not be able to see their hands in front of their faces.

 ** _"Come,"_** said that voice that sounded as if it were coming out of the ground. ** _"This will take us to the godswood."_**

Laena frowned. "The godswood is outside, we could have simply gone down the main staircase, through the great hall and out into the main courtyard where we could have gone to the godswood. There was no need to go on a wild goose chase in order to get to it."

 ** _"We are going to the godswood,"_** Baelor said calmly. ** _"But I was not referring to the godswood of Riverrun."_**

Laena's eyes widened and she opened her mouth again when all of a sudden Baelor clapped his hands together three times and suddenly the torches on the wall of the room were lit.

She hadn't even known that there were torches there before until by some strange magic Baelor had called them to light. There were five different black iron torches lining the walls, two on one side and two on the other with one straight ahead of them on the wall.

But Laena focused on those for no more than a moment before the object in the centre of the room caught her attention.

It took her a moment to process what it was but when she did she felt her jaw slacken in disbelief.

It was a tree…but not just any sort of tree. It was a hearts tree which looked to be in full bloom even though she had no idea how such a plant was functioning without heat and light. The ceilings in the room weren't high but the tops of the branches of the tree brushed the stone covering of the room. The tree itself must have once been white but now appeared a silvery grey seemed hampered and shrunken with age. There was no telling how long it had been in this room but if Laena had to guess, it must have been centuries. It's leaves were still crimson however as if the age of the tree had not diminished its ability to bear growth.

There was no other furniture or distinguishable features in the room, no windows, paintings or furniture but given the size of this tree, no order adornments were necessary.

"What is this place?" The blonde asked in awe.

 ** _"A memory…and a gateway,"_** said the deep voice. ** _"None among the Andals know of its existence. It's last visitor belonged to a member of the First Men."_**

A memory…..and a gateway.

"A gateway to what?" Laena asked.

Baelor didn't answer but instead strode over to the tree until he was standing right in front of it and looked at her as if he were waiting for her to follow him.

Cautiously Laena approached and examined the face engraved in the trunk of the tree. What surprised her however was the fact that the face was not the only adornment carved into the tree. All around the visage that had been worn by time the princess could see strange markings that made no sense to her. She could tell they looked ancient, perhaps made in the language of the First Men.

 _I wonder if Ned would be able to tell me what they mean if he were here,_ she wondered to herself.

All of a sudden she was aware that the being that had taken possession of her younger brother had reached out and taken hold of her hand.

"What are you doing?" She asked

" ** _Showing you the way."_**

Before the princess could ask more questions, the small figure reached out and laid his hand upon the face carved into the tree.

In the next instant there was the most frightful jerk and Laena felt herself being turned upside down and then right side up again. Her head began to spin as if she were on an out of control merry go round.

But then as quickly as the sensation began it ceased and she felt something cold pass over her like a shadow of a winged bird had swooped over head. She felt incredibly cold all of a sudden as if cold water had been splashed on her without the wetness of the actual water. She opened her eyes and was confronted with a blur of colours encompassing teal, emerald, periwinkle woods and navy tones that seemed entirely separate but blended into a seamless whole.

It seemed as if she were in a long tunnel with those colours surrounding her like they were part of a pipe. As she focused on the colours the princess suddenly became aware of a faint and distant image coming into focus at the very end of the tunnel. It was becoming nearer all the time like she was rushing up to meet it and about to enter a world apart from the one she knew.

In that instant Laena was reminded of a story one of her Muggle born friends in Ravenclaw named Su Li had told her.

It was about a British school girl named Alice who had been relaxing in the park against a tree when she had seen a very well dressed rabbit dart across her path carrying a pocket watch and muttering to himself.

Having been the curious sort she had followed him asking where he was going but all the rabbit would say was that he was late for a very important event.

Finally Alice pursued him to a rabbit hole where he proceeded to dive down the tunnel and she followed him to a world of strange and wonderful adventures.

Naturally Su Li had thought it a very funny story with a girl who was fool to follow an unknown towards an unknown.

But Luna herself had thought that if she had seen a well dressed rabbit with a pocket watch and spectacles running through the park she would have followed him as well. After all tunnels to different worlds weren't things that one fell down everyday.

The irony was that the same thing was happening now.

All these things passed through her mind as she and Baelor raced through the tunnel of colours towards an image of water and trees beyond,

Finally with a force of a vacuum, the two were deposited flat on their faces on a hard colour surface. The roaring in the princesses ears didn't vanish right away but she lay there on the ground for a moment waiting until the spinning stopped before she got up.

When she was certain her sense had been returned to her, she raised her head and looked around.

Baelor didn't seem to be any the worse for wear as he was standing on his feet already looking north as still has a statue.

 ** _"Come,"_** he said as if they hadn't just come through the strangest portkey Laena had ever encountered. " _ **We are almost there."**_

 _Almost where?!_ Laena wanted to demand but somehow she had a feeling she wouldn't get an answer.

Instead she simply pushed her self to her feet and wiped the wet dirt and moss from her hands only to raise her head and be confronted with a dense wall of forest almost ten feet tall. The trees were so thick and so close together they almost appeared to be pillars at the front of a magnificent and ancient palace.

The blonde tipped her head back as far as it would go and saw that above the dense and tightly packed evergreen trees there were large green oaks and willows that overhung the coniferous needles.

In the dead of night as it was right now with only the light of the moon to guide them, the place looked very imposing.

It was then that she became aware of the sound of rushing water and whirled about to find herself confronted with a river.

It was at least fifteen feet wide and she could just make out the other side of the shore with its faint dark tree silhouettes. There were no stars out, only the stark white moon over heard making distinctive features difficult to see.

"What is this place?" She murmured.

 ** _"Only a memory for many,"_** Baelor said in the voice that was not his own. ** _"For not many find their thoughts straying to this place. It has faded into legend."_**

Laena wanted to demand that this strange creature stop being so ambiguous but she was far too curious about where they had come to in order to be irritated for too long.

She knelt down and took up a handful of the earth along the river bank in her hand and breathed in its rich smell before letting it crumble through her fingers and back to the ground. The Riverlands were famous for this rich plentiful earth even more so than the Reach which essentially fed most of the south.

Nowhere was there more fertile soil than in the Riverlands however and especially along the riverbanks.

 ** _"Come,"_** said her little brother. **_"We are almost there."_**

He immediately began to walk towards the dense thicket forcing Laena to hurry to catch up with him.

She was about to use her magic to clear a path for them through the bushes when his hand shot out and clamped down on her arm. "Don't. Those who dwell here will not like it if unfamiliar magic is used in their realm."

Laena opened her mouth to demand what he meant when the small blonde spoke a word that she had never heard before and upon hearing felt chills crawl up her spine.

 ** _"Midras."_**

The word seemed to echo and bounce off the trunks of the trees, singing through the leaves like an ancient Gregorian chant. It was both old and powerful like the branches of many of the trees living in this place.

A second later before Laena's astonished eyes the dense branches of the trees seemed to part and form an arch above their heads, twisting their branches together so that they might walk beneath them into the forest beyond.

Laena couldn't see much into the dark forest but then Baelor didn't give her much time as the moment the branches parted to clear the way for them, he strode through the foliage and into the woods beyond.

Laena quickly followed, not wanting to be left behind and uncertain if apparition would work in a place like this.

The more she thought about it the more she was certain she knew where they were but she didn't want to say it for fear of being wrong.

As soon as Laena and Baelor passed over the threshold of the branches, the trees relinquished their hold on the arch and resumed their original shape so that the makeshift doorway they had created was closed.

Laena unconsciously swallowed hard at the closed door to the outside but then turned around in order to see a rather strange and intimidating sight.

Before them lay a wide path made of large flat stones in varying colours. They were layered to appear like they were steps and they wound through a trench which cut through the earth itself. On either side of the trench there were large trees of varying species with massive roots which protruded from the ground for a moment before diving back beneath the earth as if they were afraid of sunlight.

There was a faint glow coming from somewhere up ahead and when Laena listened carefully she could tell that the forest wasn't entirely quiet. It almost seemed as if someone somewhere was singing.

She couldn't make out what language it was in or even if the person was saying words at all, but the voice was low and rich and deep and echoing with ancient power that came from a time long before this one.

The faint glow she supposed might have been coming from a fire but she wasn't sure. With all the magic the princess had seen tonight, anything was possible at this point.

The trees themselves seemed to curve over the pathway creating an almost tunnel like structure that completely covered them from above. The branches of the trees almost melted together in a complex pattern ensuring that very little sunlight could get through in the day time and very little moonlight for that matter.

Other than the faint light up ahead, they were in complete darkness.

There was a deep smell which reminded Laena of fresh earth, decaying leaves and rich moss. It was a pleasant scent in contrast to the dreary atmosphere of the forest.

Luna Lovegood had always loved being out in nature and Laena Targaryen was no different. It was comforting to her and even though this was a new and somewhat intimidating place, the blonde was relieved by even the smallest familiarities.

Baelor had taken the figurative and literal lead in this adventure and when the princess looked for him she found him striding down the strange stone path like he were a very small adult.

If this wasn't so strange she would have been very amused at this point.

"Are you going to tell me what's going to happen when we get to this place?" She asked once she had caught up with him.

 ** _"You will see,"_** came the calm voice of the stranger, ** _"all will be revealed in time."_**

After that he refused to say anything more promoting Laena to fall into an uneasy silence. She had always been used to being the ambiguous one and the one who was difficult to read and now her possessed younger brother was making her run in mental circles.

But she had a feeling that answers would be soon in coming no matter what she said or didn't say.

As they walked Laena felt her mind begin to wander with the many things she had seen that night. Why had that door been covered up by the Tully's and why was it that only magic could open that passage?

Why was it the last people who had set foot in that hidden room had been members of House Fisher? This prompted Laena to think that no members of an Andal line really knew anything about the First Men who had come before them.

How much does the North remember that the rest of the realm has forgotten? She wondered to herself.

And of course the north only brought on thoughts of Ned and his activities, making a strange longing well up in her chest.

Unbidden, she realized that she missed him and that his calm presence on an adventure such as this would be very welcome.

 _I wonder if Lord Rickard has found Brandon yet,_ she wondered to herself. _I wish I could do something but I've never been north before. I wouldn't know how or where to look and I might just get in the way. Hopefully both men will be back in Winterfell by the time I get there. That will be one stressful thing off Ned's shoulders. It must be difficult to be the acting Lord of a place you were never trained to be lord of. I know he will do well though. Ned's always valued honour above anything else. Maybe that's why I care about him so much._

That last thought was startling but it was with deep certainty that she realized it was true. She cared a great deal about Ned and what happened to him and affected him concerned her.

She ran a hand through her severely mused curls and sighed to herself. This was going to be a long night.

As they continued to walk along, Laena slowly became conscious of the face that the singing sounds she had heard when she and Baelor had first walked into the forest had become louder. The light up ahead had also become brighter making her think that they had almost reached their journey's end.

All of a sudden Baelor came to a stop prompting her to do the same.

She frowned and glanced down at him, seeing his little face screwed up in concentration.

"What is it?" She asked.

 ** _"We must wait here,"_** he said sounding if it were possible even more serious than when she had heard his new voice for the first time, ** _"they will come for us."_**

Laena was just about to ask who on earth they were when all of a sudden the forest seemed to go utterly silent. The chanting ceased and even the night breezes of the wind in the branches had died off altogether.

The hairs on the back of the princess's arms stood at attention and she could feel deep within her spirit that something important was about to happen.

 ** _"He comes,"_** Baelor said.

A curious ringing began to grow in Laena's ears as if someone had struck a cymbal right close to her head.

There was a terrible moment of déjà vu as she remembered the eerily similar grotesquely painted words on the side of her father's balcony on the day he had died.

He comes…..

She glanced down at her brother who was standing stalk still staring ahead of them at the still empty path. "What….What did you say?"

All of a sudden there was the sound of underbrush being parted and Laena's head shot up in alarm, her hands tightening into fists as if bracing herself for a threat.

But what emerged from the foliage was neither threatening nor alarming. Rather it encompassed the one word that made up this entire night: strange.

It took a moment for the blonde's eyes to focus on what she was seeing and when she did, she felt her eyes widen in surprise.

A tall figure was coming down the path having emerged from a place farther back in the forest beyond her sight.

He was tall, though not much taller than she was and rather broad all things considered. He was dressed in a flowing robe that reached down past his feet and brushed the stones as he walked silently over them.

His sense of utter quiet as he moved unnerved Laena. It shouldn't be possible to move that quietly unless one was a cat.

His presence was both eerie and calming creating a host of conflicting emotions in Laena. She was intensely curious and extremely uneasy upon seeing him.

As she watched him, she gradually became aware that he was not alone and wondered how she could have missed his companions which flanked him on either side.

Their height may have had something to do with it for they were no more than three feet tall. At first the princess wondered if the place housed dwarves or if these were merely twin children.

But as they drew nearer and nearer she became aware of a parallel the three of these strange beings shared and it was one that shocked her to her core.

They had horns.

All three of them had two protrusions on either side of their heads coming out of their temples and pointing forwards.

The ones on the taller figure were more prominent but all were noticeable none the less. Some of them were curved slightly but no two looked alike which made Laena even more curious.

Suddenly nervous she twisted her hands together back and forth feeling a little useless in the face of a being that hadn't been seen since her ancestor had come to this island.

She knew she was on the isle of faces, she had known it since she had landed flat on her face on the shore. But what she hadn't known was what to expect upon arriving there. There were a host of legends about the place and Laena didn't know which one was true. The last to come to the Isle had been her distant cousin and little was known about that trip other than it had been shrouded in mystery and clouded by time.

And now it seemed she was the first in over a century to set foot in the place from the outside.

As the strange trio neared her and Baelor Laena tensed and braced herself for whatever was coming.

What she didn't expect was for the group to pause about ten feet away from them and remain still and silent for almost a minute.

The silence in the air became thunderous and Laena felt her muscles tensing by the minute wondering whether or not they wouldn't be welcomed or cast out on their faces.

Finally, the tallest of the three companions turned towards Baelor and shocked Laena by bowing to him and after a moment the other two smaller ones followed suit.

And then he turned towards her.

"Welcome Princess Laena Targaryen, we are glad of your coming," he said and the blonde almost reeled back at the sound of his voice. It was low and rough and gravelly and seemed far too world worn to be coming from the mouth of a normal human being.

Although there was nothing normal about this situation.

Laena frowned. "You knew I was coming?"

 ** _"She must know,"_** Baelor said and the princess almost jumped at the sound of his voice beside her.

"Indeed," the tall man replied. "Come then Princess Laena. There is much for you to see."

Ω

Feeling more and more confused by the minute, the blonde followed along in silence behind the strange group that had brought her here.

She still wasn't clear on who exactly these people were…or even what they were. She had a suspicion about the tall man but the last thing she wanted to do was say the word aloud and give rise to her beliefs.

She also had a feeling that until they got to where they were supposed to go none of the millions of questions she had would be answered.

So she kept silent and bit her lips to keep from opening her mouth and just gazed at the scenery around them.

There were deep brown woods and darkly coloured vermillion leaves. The stones at their feet were a dark ashy grey as if they had been coloured from the remains of wood from a fire and in the very dim light the roots of the trees protruding from the ground appeared spindle and skeletal like.

Before long the strange company reached an area of the path where the cobblestones seemed to widen out.

As Laena looked above her head she was surprised to see that some of the trees reached over the path in order to form an archway with their branches.

As soon as she and her brother passed through it she shivered a little as the temperature in the air had become slightly cooler.

All of a sudden there was a snap up ahead causing Laena to jerk her head upwards which enabled her to see that they had reached their destination.

Just ahead of her there was a perfect circle of trees surrounding an equally symmetrical pool of water.

With a jolt Laena realized it was the same pool she had seen woven into the tapestry on the wall inside of Riverrun.

And sure enough sitting atop the surface of the pool there was a large fire which appeared to be resting on nothing solid at all.

Surrounding the entire area was a ring of hearts trees just like the ones on the tapestry hiding the door to the passage in Riverrun.

It was a strange and mysterious sight and Laena became fully aware that the being possessing Baelor had been correct, both about the gateway and the godswood.

"We are here," the tall man in green said. He drew to a stop and then surprised Laena by drawing back his hood.

In the light of the fire she was able to see many more details about his physical features. The first thing that struck her about him other than the horns was his extremely long hair. It almost appeared white in the light until she realized with a start that it was.

It hung almost to his waist and was a stark silvery blonde much like hers.

Laena frowned. Something was off here.

But it wasn't until he had turned to face her and she saw a pair of familiar violet eyes that she realized what it was.

He was without a doubt the strangest looking man she had ever seen. His skin was as green as the mosses and lichen which clung to the trunks of the trees and went from the top of his head to what she assumed was the bottom of his feet. The only other colours on him were his stark silvery white hair and his purple eyes which stuck out as shiny as two jewels in the light of the fire.

Despite his wildly outlandish garb, there was something very familiar in his face and it struck Laena a moment later to realize that he bore a striking resemblance to her father but she knew this man was not him.

"You're a Targaryen," she whispered in utter shock and awe.

The man smiled at her but said nothing as she proceeded to work through her erratic thoughts.

"But how?" Laena asked. "The only remaining Targaryens are in the capital save for great Uncle Aemon at the Wall. How is it you are here? And what is your name?"

"You know my name," the man said with a placid look. "Who was the last of your family to come to this place?"

It took a moment for the realization to sink in of who she was standing before and when it did Laena felt her jaw slacken and the blood physically drain from her face.

She must have looked ridiculous but at the moment she was too shocked to care.

"But how is that possible?" She gasped. "The Dance of Dragons was nearly two centuries ago. How are you still alive after all this time?"

"The powers of this realm have forgotten that once a greater power walked these lands that is older than the Andals, older than the Seven, older than the First Men or the Children of the Forest, older even than the Others," her ancestor explained. "And that power has its way in many great, terrible and mysterious things. Extending the life of a man is merely one component of it."

"Why did you not return?" Laena asked suddenly feeling somewhat emotional. Her father had been obsessed with having more sons to carry on the Targaryen line after the fire that had nearly wiped them out.

If he had known that Addam Velaryon was still alive and well on the Isle of Faces….

"Because all power is costly," her distant cousin said. "And the price for my coming to this island in my time of need was that I could never leave it."

Laena frowned in. "I don't understand."

"No," her distant relation said. "But you soon will. That is why you have been called here on this night. Before you and your brother reach Winterfell, there are things you must know. Sit down and I will explain all."

Ω

Ned was feeling restless.

It wasn't an emotion he was accustomed to and so it was that in order to stave off these feelings he found himself pacing in the godswood of Winterfell in the bitter watches if the very cold night.

He had arrived only a few days earlier to find his very worried siblings relieved to see him. Lyanna was fuming that she hadn't been allowed to go north with their father to join in the search for Brandon and Benjen, well Benjen was just worried about both their father and brother.

Ned had done his best to answer all of their questions but he had known little more than they. Instead he simply said that he would be serving as the Stark in Winterfell until Rickard's arrival and they must pray for Brandon's safe return.

It didn't feel like much and they all knew it but Ned also knew that the most important thing would be for them to all stay together instead of losing their heads and going off on some harebrained adventure to the north.

But that very night he had awakened from another wolf dream and felt compelled by some unknown force to come to the godswood. So he did and spent nearly an hour in prayer before his restless mind had forced him to get up and move around.

His muscles felt coiled like a wild animals ready to spring and no matter what he did he was not able to calm himself.

Finally he knelt down and peered into the pool of the godswood intending to splash some water on his face in the hopes it might lend him some peace.

Instead all he got was a shock.

Looking back at him from the surface of the water was a large black direwolf with grey eyes just like his own.

Ned scrambled back from the pool with a startled oath and leaned back breath coming heavily with his surprise.

A moment later however curiosity compelled him to look again and just as before there was the large black wolf staring back at him.

No longer afraid he stared at the reflection hard as if he was familiar with the beast.

In truth he was for in many of his wolf dreams a creature just like this one had appeared. There had also been times when he himself had turned into such a wolf and had gone running through the forests all the way to the Wall itself.

And almost as if in a trance, the second son of Lord Rickard felt compelled to reach out a hand towards the surface of the water and the reflection of the wolf.

The moment his fingers brushed the droplets however a shiver seemed to run through him and he felt himself falling forward headlong towards the pool without any way of stopping himself.

His last thoughts before he blacked out was of the north, than Winterfell, than his siblings and father….and finally Laena.

Ω


End file.
